Nigeria's External Reserves Now $44.14 bln, Raises Hope Of A Stronger Naira

Hope that Nigerian naira may strengthen further in the coming days rises on Friday as the country's external reserves rose to $44.14 billion, the highest since September 28, data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) showed on Friday.
The forex reserves of Africa’s biggest economy were at $44.30 billion on September 28, last year.
The reserves also increased by 4.27 percent month-on-month as the nation forex buffer stood at $42.33 billion on February 26.
Foreign exchange reserves are monies or other assets held by a central bank or other monetary authority so that it can pay if need be, its liabilities.
Analysts said the present level of the country's forex buffer can comfortably fund 14 months import, better than the average three months benchmark for international trade.
On Tuesday the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in four years by 50 basis points to 13.5 percent to try to stimulate growth.
Nigeria’s naira has the potential to appreciate in the wake of the rate cut, given the performance of crude oil price in recent time, the sustained interest of offshore investors in local debt and buoyant foreign exchange reserve.
Analysts said with the level of forex buffer, the CBN has the capacity to defend the local currency should the need arise to do so.
Experience of Egypt remains a benchmark that Nigeria could take a cue from. The Egypt central bank cut its main interest rates earlier this year, and this was followed by gains in the value of the country's currency.
Like Egypt, Nigeria’s debt yields remain attractive. The CBN has kept interest rates high for the past six months or so using short-term instruments known as open-market operations to rein in liquidity. Average yields on naira bonds of 14.4 percent are the fourth-highest among large emerging markets, making the local market attractive to foreign investors.
The naira is trading at 360 to the dollar on the parallel market, 360.80 to the dollar at the investors' window and 306.95 to the dollar on the central bank market.
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Tinubu to FG: increased VAT will put pressure on Nigerians

The Nigerian government has been counseled to suspend its proposal to increase the Value Added Tax (VAT) because of its adverse impact on the ordinary Nigerians.

Bola Tinubu, former Lagos governor and chieftain of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) said the planned increase in VAT will put a further burden on the Nigerians, especially the masses.

Speaking at a function to mark his birthday, Tinubu also urged policymakers and officials in charge of revenue to look inward and initiate people- friendly policies based on the looming global economic recession.
He advised the government to revisit privatisation of the power sector as a major step to fast track industrial development and job creation.
He called on the power distributions companies to do away with estimated billing in the country.
“I want to appeal to Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, the Vice President and his team to put a huge question mark on any increase on VAT.
“If you reduce the purchasing power of the people, we can further slowdown the economy.
“Let us widen the tax net. Those who are not paying now, even if they are relatives of Bola Tinubu, let the net be bigger and we take in more taxes. That is what we must do in the country instead of another layer of taxes for now.”

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Nigeria To Set Up $20 Bln Infrastructure Bond To Fund Critical Projects ~ Trade Minister

Nigeria is proposing to borrow about $20 billion to improve its dilapidated infrastructure over the next decade, trade and investment minister said in a move that will see the West African country introducing infrastructure bond this year.
“Our target is that we’d like to see infrastructure spending increase to the $10- to $20-billion range over the next 5 to 10 years because we think that’s the level of our need,” Okechukwu Enelamah, the minister for trade and investment said.
He disclosed that the government has already set up a committee comprising ministers of finance, budget, trade and investment and works, housing and power, and other government agencies to work out modalities for the infrastructure bond.
The committee is expected to get their recommendations to the cabinet on how to increase our infrastructure spending significantly,” Enelamah said.
President Muhammadu Buhari, who was re-elected for another term of four years is awaiting parliamentary approval 8.8 trillion-naira budget for 2019 with about 30 percent meant to fund infrastructure development.
Upgrading inadequate infrastructure in Africa’s most populous nation is among his priorities for this second four-year term, along with improving security and strengthening an economy, which contracted in 2016.
Minister of Finance Zainab Ahmed had told a senate hearing on the 2019 budget that the country is currently facing challenges in revenue generation to fund budget outlay.
She told the parliament that the government will focus more on borrowing both locally and internationally, improve on our local borrowing, introduce an infrastructure bond and to identify new and enhance an existing revenue stream.”

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Nigeria Issues 122 Bln Naira Bond At Lower Yield After CBN Slashes Interest Rate

Nigeria sold 121.95 billion naira in sovereign bond on Wednesday to investors at lower rate at an auction day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) cut interest rate to stimulate growth, the Debt Management Office (DMO) data showed on Thursday.
On Tuesday the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in four years by 50 basis points to 13.5 percent to try to stimulate growth.
Though investors were willing to buy 241.07 billion naira worth of debt at the auction, the debt office was unwilling to pay more and therefore reduce its interest rate cut off point at 13.5 percent.
The government had paid an average of 14.74 percent for each of the tenor paper at the last month's auction.
The debt office sold only 3.80 billion naira in the 5-year tenor at 13.50 percent, 5.55 billion naira worth in the 7-year paper at 13.50 percent and 20 billion naira of the 10-year debt at 13.50 percent marginal rate at the main auction.
A total of 92.60 billion naira was, however, allocated to Non-competitive bids conducted outside the auction. Government institutions such as the central bank and other agencies usually buy bonds outside the regular auction and their bids are considered as non-competitive bids.
The 5-year, 7-year and 10-year bonds were sold at 14.52 percent, 14.79 percent and 14.93 percent at the February auction.
Analysts attributed the lower yields on the debt note sold at Wednesday's auction to the fall out from the reduction in MPR by the central bank.
Nigeria finance minister said the country will borrow 50 percent of this year's budget deficit from the domestic debt market as it looks to slash debt service going forward.

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Nigeria Facing Challenges In Generating Enough Income To Fund Budget

Nigeria is facing challenges in generating enough revenue to finance its 2018 budget in the face of poor non-oil performance, minister of finance has said.

According to Zainab Ahmed, the government has put in place strategies on how to finance the 2019 budget of 8.83 trillion naira with mixture of debt from domestic and foreign sources.

Ahmed, who appeared before the National Assembly committee on finance to defend his ministry's budget said the government plans to tap concessionary long-term loans to finance its 2019 budget in addition to borrowing at home,

“We intend to fund the 2019 budget through borrowing locally and internationally with a spread of 50:50. Our focus is on concessionary long-term loans,” said the finance minister.  

Nigeria, Africa's biggest economy has borrowed about $10 billion through Eurobond from the International Capital Market (ICM) since  2016 to fund its budget in the face of fluctuating global oil price and low crude out[ut.

Head of the Debt Mangement Office (DMO), Patience Oniha recently said Nigeria’s major priority now is to reduce debt-service costs bt shifting attention from external borrowing to domestic debt.

“If you were to ask me if we’re going to issue Eurobonds this year, I’d say we’ll explore all the options.

 “Our preferred option is to explore concessional sources. One of our major objectives is to reduce debt-service costs,” Oniha said in a recent interview, indicating the country's move to borrow cheap from the domestic market.

With the cut in the Central Bank of Nigeria's (CBN) benchmark interest rate, cost of borrowing from the domestic debt market should trend downward, lower borrowing cost for the government and help it to achieve its objectives of reducing debt service.

On Tuesday the central bank cut its benchmark interest rate for the first time in four years by 50 basis points to 13.5 percent to try to stimulate growth.

, a move which could also 

The West African country earn the bulk of its revenue from crude oil export and had made efforts in recent to diversify revenue sources, but this has achieved little as bureaucratic bottleneck and corruption has hampered reforms in the sector.

The central bank has said GDP growth could pick up in the first quarter, buoyed by election spending and this year’s government budget, to reach 3 percent from 1.9 percent last year.

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Nigerian bond yields drop after surprise central bank rate cut

Yield on Nigerian bond fell slightly on Wednesday, a day after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in a surprise move announced an interest rate cut aimed at stimulating growth in Africa’s biggest economy, traders said.
The CBN cut its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points to 13.5 percent on Tuesday, its first reduction in four years. The rate has been held at 14 percent since July 2016 to support the naira and curb inflation.
Bond yields dropped to around 13 percent across maturities on Wednesday on minor buying interest, traders said. They later recovered to 14.15 percent. The most liquid one-year treasury yield fell 15 basis points to 12.75 percent.
“The markets opened lower but no one is buying as investors adjust their bids,” one trader said.
Traders said low liquidity on the interbank market hampered deals, adding yields have already fallen from as high as 15 percent last month after the central bank lowered the rates at which it sold treasuries at its last auction.
Banking sector credit doubled to 80 billion naira on Tuesday from the previous day but the amount of maturities due to be repaid between now and August is not sufficient to boost liquidity, traders said.
President Muhammadu Buhari last month defeated his pro-market rival Atiku Abubakar, winning re-election on a pledge to revive the economy, which has faced low growth since emerging from its first recession in 25 years in 2017.
With election uncertainty out of the way, bond buyers expect the central bank could start to increase liquidity to improve funding conditions.
The central bank expects the country to lift growth to between 2.7 and 3 percent this year, up from 1.9 percent last year, the governor said during Tuesday’s rate decision.
The stock market, which is beset with worries over low growth, dropped 0.5 percent on Wednesday as brokers say the rate cut was too little to stimulate the economy.

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NNPC Assures Of Commitment To Gas Development

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it is committed to support any project that would encourage production and utilization of natural gas for the benefit of the country, its chief executive has said.

Maikanti Baru said the signing of the agreement on the Train 7 of the LNG project had a lot of potentials that would benefit the nation.

He called on the Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board (NCDMB) to ensure that Train 8 and any other LNG projects in the future should be designed to accommodate more local content in the fabrication of facilities.

Commenting on the corporation’s interest in the signing agreement, he said that the Train 7 project was in line with NNPC’s vision of prioritizing the use of natural gas to the greater benefit of Nigerians.

The NNPC boss said the signing ceremony was important as one of the major processes to bring the Train 7 project on board.

"Apart from being 49 percent shareholder in NLNG, we are more interested because it will enhance the development of gas in the country. Bringing the gas to this Train 7 would involve a robust gathering system that will connect trunk lines from offshore to the hinterland, looking beyond NLNG to domestic market, which will open up a flexible system that allows us to swing gas either way, depending on need. 

"This implies that if NLNG is not running, the gas meant for it can be sent to the local market, and when the local market has difficulty in getting the gas consumed, same can be sent back to NLNG."
Baru said NNPC, owning 49 percent share in the NLNG meant more dividend to the corporation, even as he advised NCDB to make room for more Nigerian Content in subsequent LNG projects
The GMD called on other partners in the project to obey the rules of engagement.
“My fellow shareholders, please let us continue to provide the necessary support that NLNG as a company requires and always remain compliant with what we are signing today”.

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APC Endureses Lawan, Gbajabiamila Senate President, House Of Rep Speaker, PDP, Others Kick

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may have settled for the choice of Senate Leder, Ahmad Lawan as the next Senate president, but this decision may not go down well with others contending for the same position.
Sources said there already bickering within the ruling party over the choice made by the party leadership in consultation with the president.
Former Senate Majority Leader Muhammed Ali Ndume has openly criticised the endorsement of Lawan by President Muhammadu Buhari and the party’s leadership, saying the action was illegal.
President Buhari, the APC leadership and most APC governors have endorsed Lawan after consultations on Tuesday.
The choice of the party for the speaker of the House of Representatives is Femi Gbajabiamila, representing Surulere constituency.
The current Senate president Bukola Saraki, who later defected to the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) was not the choice of the party and the President.
However, the main opposition party has kicked against the interference of the President and the leadership of the ruling APC in the choice of the National Assembly leadership.
In a statement, the PDP said its elected senators and members of the House of Representatives were constitutionally eligible to lead both chambers of the National Assembly.
The PDP noted that positions of the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, the Deputy Senate President and the Deputy Speaker were not exclusively meant for any political party, but constitutional rights of every elected lawmaker in both chambers.
But sources said consideration for Lawan as Senate President was borne out of his loyalty to the party and consistently belonging to the progressive in the last 20 years.
The APC leaders were said to have considered Lawan’s “qualifications, prudence, accountability, loyalty and rich legislative experience” which will assist the APC government to have a robust Executive-Legislative relationship to fast-track development.
Others who have shown interest in occupying to the position are Senators Danjuma Goje and Adamu Abdullahi both former governors in Gombe and Nassarawa States. Ali Ndume was the Senate majority leader before he was unceremoniously removed by the leadership of the senate.
But faulting the party’s position at a media briefing in Abuja, Ndume said the endorsements were contrary to the provisions of Section 50(1A) of the 1999 Constitution as amended.
The section states: “There shall be a president and deputy president of the Senate who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves.”
According to Ndume, neither Oshiomhole nor Buhari or any party leader has the right to force presiding officers on lawmakers.
He said: “What took place at the presidential dinner in Aso Rock on Monday night where Oshiomhole as party chairman, announced Lawan and Gbajabiamila as President of the 9th Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives respectively was very shocking to me and many of my colleagues.
“Oshiomhole, in making the announcement or endorsement, did not even allow me or Senators Danjuma Goje (Gombe Central) and Abdullahi Adamu (Nasarawa West), widely known to be in the race for the position, to say anything.
“More disturbing was the fact that even Senator Ahmed Lawan, endorsed for the position, was not allowed to make any comment in the form of an acceptance speech or to solicit support from other interested senators.”
He said: “For the sake of cohesion and stability among party members as regards aspirations for such positions, what was expected from the party leadership, was to just zone the positions and allow contenders within each of the zones to sort things out either through consensus or shadow election.”

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Nigerian Mogul Elumelu Targets $2.5 Billion Power Build-Out

Tony Elumelu, one of Nigerian business mogul is planning a huge investment of around $2.5 billion to boost power supply in Africa's biggest economy through one of his investment channels.

Elumelu, who is the chairman of United Bank for Africa (UBA) operating in over 21 African countries plans to invest the amount through Transcorp -Transnational Corporation of Nigeria, a conglomerate with interest in oil and gas, hospitality, property and trading.

His foundation, Tony Elumelu Foundation this week disbursed $15.2 million to over 3,000 young African entrepreneurs as seed fund to empower them in their various businesses.

Nigeria, with a population of almost 200 million people struggles with dire power supply, which has impeded economic development for decades. 

Power generation peaked just below 4,500 megawatts on February 28, with a maximum capacity of 7,650 megawatts, according to the latest available data from the power ministry.  

Rival South Africa, with a population a third of Nigeria’s, has an installed generation capacity of more than 47,000 megawatts.
Transcorp Power has so far injected about $1 billion in projects with a combined capacity of 700 megawatts, Elumelu, 56, said in the capital, Abuja.
The company bid for Afam Electricity Generation Co. earlier this month, which operates a natural-gas-fired power generation plant in southern Rivers state. Two other offers were received, the Bureau of Public Enterprise said, and if Elumelu acquired the facility it would add 700 megawatts to his power portfolio.
“We’ve expressed interest in the acquisition of Afam power plant, which we’re going to spend a lot of money on,” Elumelu said. “It’ll give us 1,400 megawatts and we can do more.”

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CBN In A Surprise Move Cut Interest Rate to 13.5 Pct

In a surprise move on Tuesday, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) slashed its monetary policy rate to 13.5 percent from 14 percent as part of measures to stimulate the economy and boost production.

The move is the first rate cut since November 2015. The CBN has consistently retained its MPR at 14 percent since July 2016 to support the naira and curb inflation.

Announcing the rate cut in Abuja after a 2-day Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, Godwin Emefiele, CBN governor said six of the 11 members of the committee voted for 50 basis points cut in the rate.

“This rate cut is meant to signal that there is a need for us to move course a little further. To do so we need to begin to look at money supply, liquidity to push growth,” said Emefiele

 Nigeria, which has Africa’s biggest economy, emerged from its first recession in 25 years in 2017. Since then higher oil prices have helped the country to halt the contraction and stimulate growth.

The CBN governor said Nigeria should be able to push growth to between 2.7 and 3 percent this year, up from 1.9 percent last year.
Many analysts have projected that the CBN will sustain its tight monetary stance even at this month's meeting and through to the middle of the year at least.

Emefiele is expected to step down from the CBN by June when his five-year tenure is expected to expire.

From the look of things, it was certain that President Mohammadu Buhari may not extend his tenure as many hawks in the government are rooting for a more dynamic change in the regulatory bank.

Nigeria inflation rate fell to 11.31 percent in February from 11.37 percent in January also against the projections by analysts that inflation will rise due to election spending.

  

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Osun Election Tribunal Declares PDP Winner, Annuls APC victory

The Osun State Governorship Election Pet‎ition Tribunal sitting in Abuja has declared as winner Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its candidate in the last year’s governorship election in the state, Ademola Adeleke.
It held that the All Progressives Congress and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola was not validly returned.
It held that the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its candidate, Gboyega Oyetola was not validly returned.

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Foreign Investors Remain dominant Players In Nigerian Equity Market~ Report

In spite of the slow growth in the domestic economy, foreign portfolio investors (FPI) continued to find investment in the local equity market attractive, according to the latest report by the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), even though investment flow from FPI has fallen short of the peak in 2014.

The NSE’s Domestic & Foreign Portfolio Investment Report released on Friday showed that total transactions on the local bourse increased by 54.06 percent in February compared with trading in January.
It said Foreign portfolio investors accounted for 51 percent of the total transactions on the floor of the bourse in February, while domestic investors executed 41 percent of the trading, indicating the dominant of FPI over local investors.
In February, a total of 188 billion naira transactions were executed on the floor of the exchange, while FPI accounted for 98.94 billion naira of the total trading in the period.
Total foreign transactions increased by 48 percent in February from 66.85 billion naira in January to 98.94 billion naira in February 2019.
The NSE report said total value of transactions executed by foreign investors outperformed those executed by domestic investors by 6 percent in February.
"There was a significant increase in foreign outflows which increased by 97.80 percent from 27.81 billion naira to 55.01 billion naira and foreign inflows which increased by 91.24 percent from 22.97 billion naira to 43.93 billion naira between January and February 2019," NSE report showed.
Between 2011 and 2015, foreign transactions consistently outperformed domestic transactions. However, domestic transactions marginally outperformed foreign transactions in 2016 and 2017 and remained almost at par in 2018.
Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) told a conference in Lagos on Thursday that about $5 billion was attracted through the FPI shortly after the just concluded general election an indication of sustained confidence in the economy by foreign investors.

Many Analysts have predicted massive capital flight from the domestic market against the backdrop of uncertainty surrounding the preparation for the election then.

The electoral body, Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared President Mohammadu Buhari winner of the election while his closest rival Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition party has headed to court to challenge the result of the election.

 

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Why Nigeria Needs To Improve Business Environment, Attracts More FDI ~FSDH

The Nigerian economy remains vulnerable to shocks in the oil and gas sector as the sector continues to dominate the main source of foreign currency inflow to the country, Analysts at FSDH merchant banking group have said.
In its commentary on the latest balance of payment report released by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), FSDH said the weak balance of payment position of the country in the last quarter of last year buttresses the urgent need to create multiple sources of revenue and foreign exchange earnings for Nigeria.

In the CBN balance of payment position, Nigeria recorded a surplus of $2.8 million lower than the surplus of $6.18 billion recorded in the corresponding period of 2017, but higher than the deficit of $4.52 billion recorded in Q3 2018. 

Between Q3 2018 and Q4 2018, Nigeria was able to reduce its imports and increased its export of goods. The effect of these actions led to a significant reversal of Nigeria's

The Merchant banking group said while the country's current account balance was driven mainly by crude oil and gas exports, representing 93.79 percent of total exports, the financial account component was in deficit in the last quarter of last year.

It noted that during the period more investments moved from Nigeria to other countries than they moved to Nigeria. 

"Investments from other countries to Nigeria were dominated by portfolio investments attracted by good return in the financial sector, particularly in fixed income securities."

FSDH said there is a need for the government to improve the business environment in Nigeria to attract direct investment. 

Such an improved environment would lead to job creation, and ensure foreign currency stability and prosperity of the Nigerian economy. 

Among other recommendation for an improved business environment by the bank include; reduction in administrative delays in obtaining licences and approvals, investment in infrastructure through partnership with the private sector, and removal of multiple exchange rate systems.

The CBN report had shown that the country's forex buffers was at $42.59 billion in the last quarter of last year, sufficient enough to cover 13 months of imports. 

This is higher than the 3 months global benchmark and 6 months West African Monetary Zone (WAMZ) benchmark. 

This also provides temporary stability for the value of the Naira. 

FSDH, However, noted that the long-term stability of the value of the currency will depend on the ability of the country to generate foreign exchange from multiple sources and to build domestic capacity to save, invest and consume goods and services that are produced locally

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NNPC Starts Rehabilitation Of Port Harcourt Refineries

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) said it has commenced the revamping of the two refineries in Port Harcourt in its bid to ensure local sufficiency in refined petroleum products.

In a statement by the corporation's spokesman, Ndu Ughamadu, the rehabilitation of the refineries is coming 19 years after the last Turn Around Maintenance (TAM) exercise of the nation’s premier refining plant.  

He said the NNPC is embarking on the first phase of the rehabilitation of the 210,000 barrels per day capacity Port Harcourt Refinery complex that comprises the 60,000 barrels per day old Refinery built in 1965 and the 150,000 barrels per day, new Refinery, commissioned in 1989.

Ughamadu said the project would be executed by Milan-based Maire Tecnimont S.p.A, in collaboration with its Nigerian affiliate, Tecnimont Nigeria.
Maire Tecnimont S.p.A is listed on Milan Stock Exchange with interest in international engineering and construction, technology and licensing, and energy business development, while the Tecnimont group had operations in 40 different countries, numbering about 50 operative companies with a workforce of about 5,500 employees.

The rehabilitation of the refineries would help to boost their capacity to about 60 percent capacity utilization.
Ughamadu said NNPC was engaging eni/NAOC as Technical Advisor to support the Rehabilitation of PHRC, saying NNPC/PHRC would leverage eni’s extensive refinery supply chain network and warehouses to procure critical materials for the programme.
He noted that this first phase of the rehabilitation contract which would run for six months will involve detailed integrity check and equipment inspection of the Port Harcourt Refinery complex beginning from end of March, 2019.
The integrity test comes as a forerunner to the second phase of the rehabilitation project which entails a comprehensive revamp of the complex aimed at restoring the refinery to a minimum of 90 percent capacity utilization.
Subject to the successful completion of the integrity checks, Phase 2 of the project would be executed on an Engineering Procurement Construction basis by Tecnimont in collaboration with the original builders of the plant, JGC of Japan.

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Foreign Investor's Confidence In Economy Boost Naira Value, Says CBN

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has attributed the stability in the foreign exchange market to the sustained foreign investors' confidence in the West African country's economy.
Godwin Emefiele, who spoke at a conference in Lagos on Thursday said the country has been able to attract over $35 billion in foreign investment since the regulatory bank introduced the Investor's and Exporter's foreign exchange window in 2017.
“As a result, exchange rate pressures eased considerably across all markets as the rates converged to about 360/$ and the distortive premium almost eliminated.
"At the Bureau De Change (BDC) segment, we saw a significant appreciation of the naira from over 525/$ in February 2017 to about 360/$ today. Rates at the I&E window also appreciated from nearly 382/$ in May 2017 to just over 360/$,” Emefiele said.
He said the country’s bond continues to be the toast of offshore investors as a result of the stability of the Investors’ & Exporters’ Forex rate and the attractive yields on the local debt.
According to him, Investors are sure that they can exit their positions whenever they desire this, he said has been crucial in attracting other investors into the market.
He also disclosed that since the successful conduct of the general elections in February, the economy has attracted additional $5 billion, noting that the peace conduct of the election has rubbing off positively on investments choice.
Emefiele described the positive foreign capital inflows as a further indication of the continued investors’ confidence in the strength of the economy.

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Nigeria's central bank sees 3 pct GDP growth in 2019

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has projected the economy to grow at the rate of 3 percent this year, up from 1.9 percent last year, the regulatory bank Governor has said on Thursday.

Godwin Emefiele said he sees economic activities picking up this year.

Emefiele said the bank would maintain its tight monetary stance in 2019, and sees inflation at 11.31 percent in February and rising to 12 percent this year before moderating.
The governor, who is set top step down in June, told an economic conference in Lagos that the economy would see more growth as the recovery is become self sustaining.
Economic growth has been recovering since the third quarter of 2016, when the recession bottomed out. 

Higher oil prices helped Nigeria exit that contraction. In 2018, the economy grew at its fastest pace since the recession.
Emefiele expects volatility in the crude oil market to put pressure on the currency but the central bank would maintain its stance on exchange rate over the next year.
He said more than $6 billion had flowed into the local bond market since last month’s presidential election as foreign investors piled into debt to lock in yields as high as 14 percent.
Bond investors had been worried elections would turn violent, not about who won. President Muhammadu Buhari has favoured a strong and stable currency, which bondholders hope will continue.
Buhari won a second term in charge of Africa’s biggest economy in February, defeating his pro-business rival Atiku Abubakar who had touted privatizations and float the currency as some of the ways to grow the economy.

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Captain Of ill-Fated Ethiopian Airline 737 Max 8 Plane Untrained

The captain of a doomed Ethiopian Airlines flight did not practice on a new simulator for the Boeing 737 MAX 8 before he died in a crash with 157 others, a pilot colleague said.
Yared Getachew, 29, was due for refresher training at the end of March, his colleague told Reuters, two months after Ethiopian Airlines had received one of the first such simulators being distributed.
The March 10 disaster, following another MAX 8 crash in Indonesia in October, has set off one of the biggest inquiries in aviation history, focused on the safety of a new automated system and whether crews understood it properly.
In both cases, the pilots lost control soon after take-off and fought a losing battle to stop their jets plunging down.
The MAX, which came into service two years ago, has a new automated system called MCAS (Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System). It is meant to prevent loss of lift which can cause an aerodynamic stall sending the plane downwards in an uncontrolled way.
“Boeing did not send manuals on MCAS,” the Ethiopian Airlines pilot told Reuters in a hotel lobby, declining to give his name as staff have been told not to speak in public.
“Actually we know more about the MCAS system from the media than from Boeing.”
Under unprecedented scrutiny and with its MAX fleet grounded worldwide, the world’s largest planemaker has said airlines were given guidance on how to respond to the activation of MCAS software. It is also promising a swift update.
Ethiopian Airlines said on Thursday its pilots had completed training recommended by Boeing and approved by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on differences between the previous 737 NG aircraft and the 737 MAX version.
They were also briefed on an emergency directive after the Indonesia crash, which was incorporated into manuals and procedures, it said in a tweet. The 737 MAX simulator was not designed to replicate the MCAS system problems, it added.
“We urge all concerned to refrain from making such uninformed, incorrect, irresponsible and misleading statements during the period of the accident investigation,” it said.
TRAINING QUESTIONS
Globally, most commercial airline pilots refresh training in simulators every six months. In the Ethiopian crash, it was not clear if Yared’s colleague – First Officer Ahmednur Mohammed, 25, who also died in the crash – had used the new simulator.
It was also not clear if Yared or Ahmednur would have been trained on that simulator or an older one for 737s that their airline also owned.
“I think that the differences between the 737 NG and the MAX were underplayed by Boeing,” said John Cox, an aviation safety consultant, former U.S. Airways pilot and former air safety chairman of the U.S. Airline Pilots Association.
“Consequently the simulator manufacturers were not pushing it either. The operators didn’t realize the magnitude of the differences,” he told Reuters in a communication over the Ethiopian pilot’s remarks.
The 737 MAX 8 was introduced into commercial service in 2017, but pilots of older 737s were only required to have computer-based training to switch, according to Boeing, airlines, unions and regulators.
By December, two months after the Lion Air crash that killed 189 people off Jakarta, the main simulator producer CAE Inc of Canada said it had delivered just four MAX simulators to airlines.
At that time, CAE had orders from airlines globally for 30 MAX simulators, which cost between $6 million and $15 million each depending on customization.
The world’s largest 737 operator, Southwest Airlines Co, will not have its first MAX simulator ready for use until October, its pilot union said on Wednesday.
“It is still very disturbing to us that Boeing did not disclose MCAS to the operators and pilots,” the association told members in a memo seen by Reuters.

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Call rates may rise as telcos mull tariff review

Major telecommunications operators are mulling tariff hike for calls in selected states in Nigeria due to what is described as hostile operating environment.
The new tariff being proposed is expected to reflect the cost of doing business in the affected states.
A report in Punch newspaper showed that this move became necessary in view of the multiple taxes and levies imposed by government agencies in certain states on telecoms infrastructure.
A consultant would be engaged to carry out a cost-based study, which could lead to a higher call tariff on outgoing calls by residents.
Over the years, network operators have raised the alarm over arbitrary taxes and levies imposed on the telecoms infrastructure in certain states and subsequent shutdown of Base Transceiver Stations over failure to comply.
In January this year, MTN expressed concerns regarding the shutdown of its facilities in Kogi State over allegations that it had not met its tax obligations to the state government.
The company alleged that the state government was demanding immediate payment of social service contribution levy, employee development levy and annual rent for Right-of-Way on fibre optics cable, saying payment would amount to multiple taxes.
Also in 2018, the Association of Licensed Telecommunications Operators of Nigeria complained of the sealing of hub telecoms stations of its members due to the failure of the operators to comply with the payment of about 36 statutory and non-statutory taxes and levies in Kogi State.
At a press conference in Lagos, the Chairman, ALTON, Gbenga Adebayo, had explained that members of the association had settled all statutory levies and taxes due to the Kogi State Government and had taken necessary steps to comply with local laws that governed business activities within the state.
He alleged that an attempt by the Kogi State Government to increase its internally generated revenue would lead to total communications blackout in Kogi State and parts of Abuja, Nasarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, and Niger states.
“As a result of these actions by the state government, our members are unable to refuel power generators at these sites, a situation which has led to the outage of over 70 sites including hub sites across parts of Kogi State. Now, there is likely impact on nine states surrounding Kogi namely: Nasarawa, Benue, Enugu, Anambra, Edo, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara, and Niger states. These are states sharing borders with Kogi State, and Abuja the FCT inclusive,” Adebayo had said.
Also in January last year, major base transceiver stations of network operators in Taraba State were shut over demands for the payment of environmental protection levy of amounting to 285 million naira by each telecoms operator.

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Nigeria to sell stakes in joint oil assets to boost coffers

Nigeria plans to cut its stake in joint oil ventures with multinational oil companies to 40 percent this year, its budget minister said, as the country seeks to boost revenue to grow an economy recovering from recession.
Oil companies including Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron and ExxonMobil, operate in Nigeria through joint ventures with the state-owned NNPC.
NNPC owns 55 percent stake in its joint venture with Shell and 60 percent stakes with others.
The government has considered reducing its majority stakes in these joint ventures for more than a decade but was under little pressure as higher oil prices boosted state coffers.
Budgets under Muhammadu Buhari, who starts a second term in May, have been Nigeria’s largest ever and the government has been seeking to boost revenue after it emerged from a 2016 recession two years ago.
Budget Minister, Udoma Udo Udoma, said the government will intensify efforts to improve its finances including the “immediate commencement of the restructuring of the joint venture oil assets so as to reduce government shareholding to 40 percent,” he said in a statement.
He added during a presentation to lawmakers that Buhari wanted the oil restructuring completed this year.
Buhari won re-election last month for another four years, defeating his pro-business rival Atiku Abubakar, who had touted selling the state-owned NNPC as one of his key reform policy.
In 2017, the debt office said the government wanted to raise 710 billion naira ($2.32 billion) via restructuring its equity in joint venture oil assets and that it had captured the proposals in the 2018 budget.
In the past, Nigeria has held talks with oil companies regarding financing agreements for joint ventures after it struggled to fund its portion of such partnerships through cash calls which have often been delayed in parliament.
The government has asked the petroleum regulator to collect past-due oil license charges and royalties, within three months.
The country has also ordered oil majors to pay nearly $20 billion in taxes it says are owed to local states.
Buhari has presented an 8.83 trillion naira budget for 2019, laying out plans to drive growth. He has directed NNPC to take measures to achieve the targeted oil production of 2.3 million barrels per day this year, the minister said.

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Nigeria To Raise 100 bln Naira in 5-, 7-, 10-Year Bond Next week

Nigeria's debt office plans to issue 100 billion naira worth of sovereign bond next week Wednesday in furtherance of measures to fund this year's budget deficit.

The Debt Management Office (DMO) will issue 40 billion naira each in 7-year and 5-year bond, while it will sell 20 billion naira worth in 10-year paper

All the debt notes are reopening of the previously issued paper y the debt office.

Nigeria local debt notes are backed by the full faith and credit of the Nigerian Government, with interest payable semi-annually to bondholders, while bullet repayment will be made on maturity date.
Nigeria issues sovereign bonds monthly to support the local bond market, create a benchmark for corporate issuance and fund its budget deficit.

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Nigeria needs to reduce tax compliance costs – PwC

An audit consultancy firm, PwC Nigeria has said the deployment of technology will help Nigeria to reduce tax compliance costs in order to encourage more people to pay taxes.
Taiwo Oyedele, Head of Tax, PwC Nigeria said the government should simplify the process of tax collections through the use of technology.

“Nigeria doesn’t rank very well on the ease of paying taxes. Nigeria’s tax revenue to GDP ratio is one of the lowest in the world, yet it is one of the most difficult places to pay tax. It is a contradiction: you need tax money but you make the process very difficult.
“So, if you simplify it by using technology, what that does is you encourage more people to pay. There is something about compliance cost; it is something that does not benefit the government and the taxpayer. It is actually the money the taxpayer pays that doesn’t get to the government. So, both the taxpayer and the government have an objective to reduce that cost.”
He said the technology would reduce the cost of compliance, adding “therefore, you can get more people into the tax net.”
Oyedele said, “Everything we do today is impacted by technology and technology is making things better, faster and more cost-efficient and cost-effective. So, it is no longer acceptable for authorities to live in the past.
“Even though Nigeria is starting late, they say, ‘Better late than never. So, the idea now is to make technology the platform, not an option, for tax compliance in terms of calculating your taxes, making your payments, and filing your returns.”
Noting that getting a tax clearance certificate was like rocket science in the past, he said, “With technology now, one should be able to get that immediately. We know that these platforms are not perfect yet; so, our role as PwC, helping so many people to pay their taxes and also paying taxes ourselves, is that once we identify what the problems are, we get the stakeholders to come together to see how we can fix the problems. It is not enough to criticise; we must find the solution together.”
“With our experience dealing with other countries, we know things that work in other places; so it is very good that we have the Federal Inland Revenue Service, the Lagos State Internal Revenue Service and the Presidential Enabling Business Environment Council here today. It is the beginning of the process, and we hope that by this time next year, all these processes will be much better such that the experience of the taxpayer will be a lot better.”

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Dangote's Reopens Tomato Plant After 2-year In Limbo

Dangote Firms, wholly owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote has resumed production at its Tomato Paste factory in Kano, two years after the plant was shut down over a supply disruption partly caused by a price dispute with farmers.
The factory, with a capacity for 1,200 metric tons of tomato paste daily and targeted at meeting domestic demand, restarted production last week processing about 100 tons a day.

The Factory is expected to increase output as tomato supply improves, according to Abdulkareem Kaita, the managing director of Dangote Farms Ltd, which owns the factory.
“Our major challenge is the scarcity of the tomato,” Kaita said in an interview at the factory in Kadawa, outside the northern city of Kano. 

“The local tomato growers could not meet our production demand, we also could not agree with the farmers on the price of tomato per basket.”
Under a new deal with the farmers, the factory will buy tomatoes at prices pegged to what local markets are selling.
Dangote is also developing its own farms with a special tomato strain that could yield 60 tons per hectare, compared with the yield of 10 tons per hectare being recorded by the local farmers, Kaita said. The company plans to distribute the seedlings to growers to boost their output.
The plant, which started production in 2015, was to help Africa’s most populous nation cut paste imports of 300,000 tons a year from China by using an estimated 900,000 tons of tomatoes lost after harvest every year for lack of storage and processing facilities.
Dangote Farms is part of Aliko Dangote’s diversified group of businesses, of which cement manufacturing is the main one. The 61-year-old tycoon, who is currently building a vast $12 billion oil refinery close to the commercial hub of Lagos, is also invested in sugar and flour.

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Nigeria Seeks Concessionary Loan To Fund Budget deficit, May Shun Eurobond

Nigeria may shun issuance of new debt through Eurobond this year and focus more on seeking accommodation from multilateral institutions for concessionary facilities as the biggest economy in Africa seeks to cut back on interest rate payment on debt.

The West African country's Eurobonds have emerged the best performing in emerging markets this year, however, rising yield in the International Capital Market (ICM) my push Nigeria to prioritise borrowing from the World Bank and African Development Bank and other multilateral institutions willing to offer the country helping hands. 

According to the head of the Debt Mangement Office (DMO), Patience Oniha Nigeria's major priority now is to reduce debt-service costs.

“If you were to ask me if we’re going to issue Eurobonds this year, I’d say we’ll explore all the options.

 “Our preferred option is to explore concessional sources. One of our major objectives is to reduce debt-service costs,” Oniha said in an interview with Bloomberg in Abuja.

The 2019 budget estimated presented to the parliament by President Mohammadu Buhari in December is yet to be approved by the  National Assembly. 

The budget envisaged the government will issue around 1.65 trillion naira ($4.6 billion) of new debt, half of which would be in foreign currency. 

Africa’s biggest oil producer has mostly used the Eurobond market for its external funding in recent years, rather than concessional lenders. 

Since 2015 when Buhari ascend leadership of the country, Nigeria has issued about $10.2 billion in Eurobond, $5.4 billion last year and $4.8 billion in 2017, making it Africa’s most prolific issuer in that period after Egypt. 

Bank of America said in a research note this month that Nigeria would probably print another $3 billion of securities in the second half of 2019.
Its Eurobonds have returned 14.4 percent since the end of 2018, second only to Kenya among sovereigns in emerging markets, according to Bloomberg indexes.
African Eurobonds have been in heavy demand this year as the U.S. Federal Reserve’s cautious approach to raising interest rates spurs investors to buy higher-risk assets. Ghana and Benin sold $3.6 billion of bonds between them on Tuesday.
While Nigeria’s ratio of debt-to-gross-domestic-product is low relative to other governments at about 25 percent, its small tax base means interest costs as a proportion of revenue are high. 

The federal government’s interest payments-to-revenue more than doubled to 60 percent last year from 27 percent in 2014, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The figure is on course to rise to 82 percent by 2022, which the Washington-based lender says is “unsustainable.”

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NNPC issues 2019-2020 crude-for-product tender

Nigeria’s state-oil firm Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has issued its 2019-2020 crude-for-product swap tender, the oil company said on Wednesday.
The Direct Sale Direct Purchase (DSDP) tender document did not specify the start date or the quantities involved but said the arrangement would be for one year.
The tender is set to close on May 2 at noon local time, NNPC said on its official Twitter account.
Crude-for-product swap contracts are the country’s main avenue to meet the bulk of its gasoline and diesel needs.
Nigerian refineries have a capacity of about 445,000 barrels per day but have underperformed for years, making Africa’s biggest oil producer almost wholly dependent on imports.
The crude-for-product swaps were extended until June, sources familiar with the matter said last year.

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Nigerian Stock Exchange To Delist Diamond Bank Share After Merger With Access Bank Sails Through

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) has placed on full suspension the shares of Diamond Bank after the lender obtained regulatory approval for its merger with Access Bank.
The suspension, which takes effect from Wednesday, March 20, will enable the lender to determine shareholders that qualify for considerations in the scheme of merger between the two lenders.
According to a notice by Diamond Bank, the last trading day on the shares of the bank was Tuesday, March 19, and there will be no further trades in the shares of the bank on floor of the exchange.
"Shareholders and other investors are requested to please note that following the Full Suspension of March 20, 2019 - the last trade day was Tuesday, March 19, 2019 following which there will be no further trades in the shares of Diamond Bank Plc," the bank said in the statement.

The shares of Diamond Bank will eventually be delisted from the book of the NSE after the conclusion of the merger process.
Last year, the two lenders announced plans to merge their operations to become the largest retail bank in the continent.
Since the announcement, the two banks have obtained the approval of their respective shareholders, legal approval and regulatory approval to go ahead with the merger. The merged entity will operate under the Access Bank franchise at the end of the consolidations.
Both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) gave their final approval to the two lenders this week to go ahead with the consolidations of the two entity.
Under the deal, Access Bank will pay a total of 3.13 naira per share to Diamond Bank shareholders, comprising of one naira in cash and two new shares for every seven held in Diamond Bank.
Access, which has been seeking to expand, agreed to buy Diamond Bank after its rival had since 2016 struggled to bolster its capital following loan losses that had forced it to sell its foreign subsidiaries.
U.S. private equity firm Carlyle is one of the main shareholders in Diamond Bank, which has a strong focus on banking for retail customers and small businesses.
Shares in Access Bank closed at 5.95 naira on Tuesday while that of Diamond Bank closed at 2.42 naira.

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Nigeria Refineries Operating Loss Hits 132.5 Bln Naira in 2018

Nigeria posted a total loss of 132.5 billion naira from the operation of its four refineries last year, the state-run oil firm Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) has said, accentuating the dilapidating state of the refining firms.

Africa's biggest economy operates four refineries located in Port Harcourt, Kaduna, and Warri with a combined installed capacity of 445,000 barrels per day.    

However, Nigeria continues to depend largely on imported gasoline to power the economy as a result of the weak performance of the refineries.

Breakdown of the operating loss from the refineries showed that the Port Harcourt refinery recorded the biggest deficit of 59.96 billion naira last year. The refinery has remained shut for about seven months.

The Kaduna refinery, which has also been idle for the past 11 months, lost 31 billion naira while Warri refinery recorded a deficit of 41.71 billion naiira.

The inability of the country to restructure the refineries and adapt it to function maximally continue to cost the country huge foreign exchange loss.

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Nigerians Remain Happy Amidst Economic and Security Challenges

Nigerians have moved up on the World happiness index, ranking 91 by four steps from the previous ranking of 95. The index has shown that Nigerians are top on the list of happiest people living in the world today.
Equally, NOIPolls latest Personal Wellbeing Index (PWBI) has proved that Nigerians remained happy even in the face of economic hardship and security challenges being faced daily.
According to its latest PWBI Q4 2018, NOIPolls said there was a marginal decline in the PWBI of Nigerians.
It said the index showed that the personal wellbeing index of Nigerians stands at 61.5-points in the last quarter of last year compared with 62.89 points in the third quarter of 2018.
"Nevertheless, it is worthy of note that amidst the low satisfaction of Nigerians on their economic situation and standard of living, some of the key factors which are pivotal in determining the level of happiness continue to remain above average as revealed by the poll."
These key components, NOI noted include Religion (88.37- points), Social Interaction (75.9-points), Physical Health (73.5-points) and Personal security (57.9-points).
Nigerians, it said have continued to be happy people despite the seeming economic, security and other social challenges they experience on a day to day basis.
"Furthermore, social interaction which provides an overall feeling of connectivity to society is one of the indices that Nigerians keep averaging high points in the PWBI findings.
This contributes to the happiness of Nigerians alongside their personal health; without which isolation, decreased self-esteem and shorter lifespan may be prevalent.
The United Nations (UN) celebrates the International Day of Happiness as a way of recognising the essence and importance of happiness in the lives of people around the world; which seem to elude a large number of persons living in the world today due to the seeming hardship experienced by people. In a bid to promote overall Happiness of people around the world and to ensure the general wellbeing of individuals, the UN came up with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals which seek to end poverty, reduce inequality and protect our planet which are major factors that lead to well-being and happiness.
The global body uses factors like GDP per capita, social support, healthy life expectancy, social freedom, generosity and absence of corruption in order to rank countries.

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Banks with more women on board better managed – Emefiele

The Central bank of Nigeria (CBN) has claimed that financial institutions with more women on their boards and in top management are generally better managed.
Governor of the regulatory bank Godwin Emefiele, who spoke at the CBN celebration of the International Women’s Day, in Abuja, Tuesday, noted that banks with more women at the top had higher capital buffers.
Quoting the reports of a 2018 International Monetary Fund (IMF), Emefiele said that narrowing the “gender gap in leadership does make a difference when it comes to bank stability. Banks with higher proportion of women board members had higher capital buffers, a lower ratio of nonperforming loans, and greater resistance to stress.
“Greater inclusion of women as users, providers, and regulators of financial services have benefits beyond addressing gender inequality.
“Narrowing the gender gap would foster greater stability in the banking system and enhance economic growth. It could also contribute to more effective monetary and fiscal policy.”
He also made reference to the position of Christine Lagarde, the IMF Managing Director, that if banks and financial supervisors increased the share of women in senior positions, the banking sector would be more stable.
Emefiele disclosed that the regulator bank had made great strides in addressing gender disparities in the organisation.
Actions, he noted has been taken by the bank to advance equality in the workplace included “training and skills development, increased employment and leadership positions for women, diversity and inclusion initiatives, supporting female employees to balance work and family life (through childcare support, extended maternity leave etc), coaching and mentoring programme to increase knowledge and skills that are necessary for achieving our organizational goals and objectives”
He said women occupy 29 percent of CBN staff strength while 29 percent of Directors of the bank are women.
Emefiele added that 8 Departmental Directors were women, while 3 out of 11 board members were women. He said that in recognition of their enormous contributions of to economic growth either as business owners, entrepreneurs, farmers or employees of businesses, 60 percent of the multi-billion Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Fund had been earmarked for women.

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Nigeria External Reserves Hit $43.3 Bln By Mar 18, Highest Since Oct '18

Nigeria's external reserves rose to $43.31 billion by March 18, the highest since October last year, latest data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) shown on Tuesday.
The forex reserves of Africa's biggest economy stood at $43.34 billion in October last year, but deep as low as $41 billion in the subsequent months before it started rising again.
However, forex reserves fell by 3.86 percent year-on-year as the figure a year ago stood at $45.05 billion, according to data harvest from the CBN website.
On a month-on-month basis, the external reserves rose marginally by 1.36 percent. The reserves were at $42.73 billion in the same period of last month.
Foreign exchange reserves are monies or other assets held by a central bank or other monetary authority so that it can pay if need be, its liabilities.
Nigeria's external reserves growth is mainly influenced by global crude oil price, which currently stands at $66.03 per barrel in the international market.
Local currency is enjoying a relatively stable rate at all segments of the foreign exchange market as a result of the improved in external reserves quantum.
The naira is trading at 306.95 to the dollar on the official CBN window, stable at 360 per dollar on the parallel market and closed at 360.13 to the dollar on the investors' window on Tuesday.

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Senate approves N30,000 minimum wage

The Nigerian Senate has approved the sum of 30,000 naira as the new national minimum wage, following the footsteps of the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
This followed the submission of the report of the ad-hoc committee on new minimum wage headed by Senator Francis Alimikhena.
The upper chamber asked the Federal Government to submit a supplementary budget to cover the new wage structure for consideration and approval.
The new minimum wage bill had already been approved by the House of Representatives.

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FG may increase VAT to pay new minimum wage – Budget minister

Nigeria is considering increasing the Value Added Tax (VAT) rate to enable it finance the proposed national minimum wage for workers, Udo Udoma, minister of budget and planning has said.
Udoma, who spoke before a Senate committee on finance on Tuesday the VAT rate review is one of the options being considered by the government go forward.
He also hinted that the government may soon bring before the parliament an executive bill seeking an amendment to the tax law as soon as the national minimum wage is approved by the National Assembly.
Africa's biggest economy currently charges a 5 percent VAT rate on all goods and services, a rate considered as the lowest in the continent.
The parliament is currently considering approving a minimum wage of 30,000 naira for the nation's workforce before it could become effective across all sectors of the economy.
The minister also informed the Senate committee that the Technical Advisory Committee on the minimum wage will submit its report to President Muhammadu Buhari this week.
He considered the current minimum wage of 18,000 naira too little for workers in the country in the face of present economic reality.
“The President supported a review, but it is important that as we are revising it, we should be able to fund it.
“It is in the light of this that we would be coming to you (Senate) because there may be the need to make some changes, especially the VAT, in order to fund the minimum wage once it is announced.”
He also said efforts were on, too, to ensure that capital projects and other sectors of the economy are adequately funded.

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Atiku Files Petition Against Buhari's Victory, Seeks Notification of Election

Atiku Abubakar, the presidential candidate of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the last month's election has filed a petition against the victory of President Mohammadu Buhari at the Presidential Election Petition Tribunal in furtherance of his claim that the election was marred by irregularities.

Atiku and his party said they have assembled over 400 witnesses to testify against the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the winner of the election at the Tribunal.

According to the legal adviser to the PDP, Emmanuel Enoidem, the petitioners would be represented by over 20 Senior lawyers at the tribunal.

The petitioners had 21 days from the date the final results of the presidential election were announced on February 27, 2019.
Enoidem said the main opposition party is seeking the declaration of its members who won election massively across the country to be declared the winner of that election.
“In the alternative, we also asked that the results be set aside on the grounds of irregularities which were very apparent across the country.
“We have a pool of 20 SANs, who are tested in election petitions matters, and other senior lawyers who are also working with them. So we are very ready for the petition. The petition is well packaged.
“The depositions are well put together. More than 400 witnesses are going to testify in this petition. Nigerians are at home with what happened in February ... the sham they called election.
“Of course, we are going to re-present the facts to Nigerians as the facts are already in the domains on Nigerians. We are not going to manufacture facts.”
While the order of the tribunal permitting the petitioners to have access to the electoral materials used for the conduct of the election had yet to be enforced, Enoidem said on Monday that his party and its candidates were able to beat the time in filing the petition.

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Nigeria spends $500 Mln on palm oil importation yearly~ CBN

Nigeria's central bank on Monday said the country spent over $500 million every year on the importations of palm oil.

Godwin Emefiele, Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said this at a stakeholders’ meeting on the Palm Oil Value Chain held in Abuja.
The meeting was attended by the Governors of Akwa Ibom, Edo and Abia. Also, the managers of Dangote Farms, Flour mills, United Food Industries and Dufil Frima Foods Plc, among others were at the meeting.
Emefiele said that it was a sad fact that the country was still importing palm oil in spite of sufficient arable land in the South-South and South-East regions of the country to farm it.
He recalled that in the late 50’s and 60’s, Nigeria was not only the world’s leading producer of palm oil, but it was also the largest exporter of palm oil, accounting for close to 40 percent of the global market share.
He said that right now, Malaysia and Indonesia were the top producers of palm oil and Nigeria the fifth, after getting their seeds and learning how to cultivate oil palm from Nigeria.
“This conversation is indeed important as it forms part of our overall strategy to reduce our reliance on crude oil imports, diversify the productive base of our economy, create jobs and conserve our foreign exchange.
“Despite placing oil palm in the forex exclusion list, official figures indicate that importation of palm oil had declined by about 40 percent from the peak of 506,000 Metric Tonnes (MTs) in 2014 to 302,000 MTs in 2017.
“This indicates that Nigeria still expends close to 500 million dollars on oil palm importation annually and we are determined to change this narrative.
“We intend to support improved production of palm oil to meet not only the domestic needs of the market, but to also increase our exports in order to improve our forex earnings,” he said.
To this end, Emefiele said that all the state governors in South-South and South-East, Nigeria had agreed to provide at least 100,000 hectares each for large scale oil palm farming.
He said that with the help of the state governments, Nigeria could reach self-sufficiency in palm oil between 2022 and 2024 and ultimately overtake Thailand and Columbia to become the third largest producer over the next few years.
“As part of our Anchor Borrowers Program (ABP) and Commercial Agriculture Credit Scheme (CACS), the CBN will work with large corporate stakeholders and small holder farmers to ensure availability of quality seeds for this year’s planting season.
“We will also ensure the availability of agro-chemicals in order to enable improved cultivation of palm oil.
“We will also work to encourage viable off-taker agreements between farmers and large-scale palm producing companies.
” Loans will be granted through our ABP and CACS programs at no more than 9 percent per annum to identified core borrowers,” he said.
The CBN governor reiterated that the restrictions earlier placed on the importation of textiles and other ready-made clothing was for the good of the economy.
He said that in due course, the CBN would introduce policies to address challenges in the cocoa, cassava, beef/cattle ranching, dairy and fish sectors.
”Soon every region of our beloved country will feel the positive impact of our intervention in the agricultural sector.
“These efforts we hope will not only enable us to conserve our foreign exchange but also create jobs on a mass scale.
“As these measures begin to bear fruits, we are very optimistic that our states will become more economically viable,” he said.
Also, the Governor of Edo, Godwin Obaseki, said the state was currently cultivating about 70,000 hectares of land of oil palm.
He also spoke on the need to revive the moribund Nigerian Institute For Oil Palm Research (NIFOR), in Benin to improve investment in research and production of quality oil palm seeds.
“We should understand that for meaningful investment to come into the oil palm industry, we have to think of other incentives to encourage manufacturers to turn oil palm to other things.
“What I mean is that palm oil can be used to manufacture margarine, soaps, toothpaste and other things.
” We must also think about how to create incentives for those who are currently in the business to explore all the uses of palm oil to create job opportunities for our people,” he said.
Also, the Governor of Akwa Ibom, Udom Emmanuel, spoke on the need to educate oil palm small holder farmers on the use of improved seedlings as a way to improve output.

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Nigerian Breweries Says Facing Trial Over Allegations Of Copyright Infringement

Nigerian Breweries has confirmed that it is currently in court defending a criminal case instituted against its former managing director and the company over a copyright issue concerning one of its brand.
According to a statement sent to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by the local unit of Heineken BV, Netherlands, its ex-chief executive and company were accused of infringing on copies of a book titled, “The Amstel Factor” by one Paul Oche.
Reports showed that Nigerian Breweries had used a portion of the book in one of its campaigns without the permission of the author.
Counsel to the author, Paul Ekwueme is praying a Federal High Court in Abuja to declare that the settings, scenes, imageries used in the defendant’s “Why Add More?” Amstel Malta brand product campaign constitutes an infringement of his copyright.
The plaintiff noted that the corresponding setting, scenes, imageries and even words used in the campaign violate his client’s right since the brewer neither sought nor obtained his authorisation to adapt and publish his intellectual literary work in their “Why Add More?” campaign.
The plaintiff is also seeking one billion naira as aggravated and exemplary damages against the defendants jointly and severally for unlawfully, capriciously, maliciously and contemptuously infringing on his copyright in the intellectual literary work.
The company said it was committed to see through the prosecution of the case to its logical conclusion.

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UBA 2018 Profit Grows 7 Pct, To Pay 0.65 Naira Dividends

Nigeria’s United Bank for Africa (UBA) gross earnings rose 7 percent to 494 billion naira at the end of last financial year compared with 461.6 billion naira posted in the previous year, the bank said in a statement to the local bourse.
The bank’s directors are proposing a final dividend of 0.65 naira per share, having paid an interim 0.25 percent last year to shareholders. Shareholders would have received 0.85 naira per each share held at the end of last financial year.
UBA, which operates in many African countries recently open its United Kingdom franchise also grew its assets by 19.7 percent to 4.9 trillion naira in the period under review.
Its profit before tax rose 2.4 percent to 106.8 billion naira compared with 104.2 billion naira in the previous year.
Profit After Tax rose by 1.4 per cent to 78.6 billion naira against 77.5 billion naira posted in 2017.
Kennedy Uzoka, the bank’s chief executive officer said in relative to the weak economic growth in Africa, its 2018 financials was positive.
Uzoka said the bank’s performance would be stronger in the years ahead and shareholders would enjoy even greater dividends, as the Group is well-positioned to take advantage of imminent fiscal reforms across many economies in Africa, a positive outlook which should stimulate new opportunities in infrastructure, manufacturing, agriculture and resource sectors.

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AMCON Moves To Sack Non-Performing Consultants

 Nigeria's 'bad bank' may disengage some consultants employed to help in the recovery of its outstanding assets in a bid to weed out non-performing Asset Management Partners (AMPs) and ensure efficiency in its operations, its CEO has said.

Ahmed Kuru, Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) chief executive said any AMPs that cannot cope with the speed and enormous challenges of debt recovery would be weeded out while performing ones will get more job to do.

The 'bad bank' chief executive spoke in Abuja at the 2019 edition of the AMCON/AMPs Interactive/Feedback Session. 

With AMCON sunset in sight, Kuru said AMCON is more aggressive with its recovery strategy and also expects its partners to equally step up their game because the corporation will no longer accommodate any AMP that is not moving on the same speed. “We know it is not easy the jobs we have assigned to you. Recovery is a difficult job but even at that, a few of you (AMPs) have shown they cannot cope; we may have no choice to disengage such partner. But those that have done well, we will upgrade and even assign more responsibilities to such partners because there is indeed need for speed in this assignment. 

"We are convinced that the AMP programme is key to the success of AMCON, and we will give you all the necessary support to make you succeed in this exercise,” the AMCON  chief said.

He also promised that the corporation may assign more accounts to AMPs that have shown aggression and zeal based on the review of the AMP scheme so far. 

AMPs, are consortiums of firms with specialist skills in banking, legal, valuation and accounting required to ensure recovery and debt resolution. They were appointed by AMCON after a rigorous selection process to complement its efforts to recover over six trillion naira in outstanding debt. 

Kuru said that collaborating with AMPs became necessary because AMCON has a total loan portfolio of over 12,000 loans of various sizes and sectors that are still lingering many years after the corporation was established. 

He stated that when this is compared to AMCON’s staff strength, it became obvious that the corporation surely needed a strategic approach to improve coverage, recovery and results.

The AMPs are currently handling over 6,000 accounts within AMCON portfolio. Although in terms of weight, the accounts, which have been outsourced to AMPs constitute only 20 percent or 740 billion naira of the total EBA portfolio of 3.7 trillion naira. 

To achieve the mandate as part of the corporation’s renewed strategy to resolve these loans, he said, AMCON in 2016 introduced the AMP scheme to assist the corporation’s recovery activities especially in tracing, identification and location of obligors with the intent to resolve their outstanding indebtedness; tracing, identification and location of assets of obligors (both pledged and unpledged) to enhance the EBA value, and achieve set recovery objectives. 

The AMPs he further said were also empowered to enable them get involved in negotiation of settlement & restructuring terms with identified obligors in line with approved guidelines; pursuing & enforcing debt recovery and collection activities geared towards optimization of assigned portfolio to achieve set targets and initiation of legal actions to further the loan recovery mandates in line with approved guidelines, amongst other obligor engagements.

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