₦airaland Forum

Tens of Lagosians stormed the LASU Road office of late Alhaji Fatai Yusuf, popularly known as Oko Oloyun, to demand the money they invested in his Ponzi scheme.

Oko Oloyun, a popular Lagos-based trado-medical expert, was murdered on Thursday 23 January 2020 around 4:30pm on the road while travelling to Iseyin, Oyo State. He was reportedly attacked by some hoodlums at Igboora.

Following his demise, people who invested money in his Ponzi scheme, known as “Option C” stormed the Head office of his company to demand how to retrieve their money. The investors were the more confused as his two offices at Egba Idowu along Igando road in Lagos were shut with no one to provide information.

The investors, however, vowed to take drastic measures if a statement was not issued by the organization as soon as possible. Just like the day MMM folded up, the investors in “Option C” programme narrated how much they had invested and insisted they could not afford to lose their hard-earned money.

An investor, who chose to be called Emmanuel explained that Option C is a money-making programme that promised 10% return in two months. Emmanuel, who was trembling while speaking, added that he invested in the scheme in July 2019 and had only received returns once, contrary to the agreement of two months which was stated.

Mrs Bunmi (first name withheld), a retired teacher, who was clearly in shock, stated that she had invested millions having joined the programme in December 2018. She said she had only received N500,000 from her investment and that she was not sure of her fate with the death of Oko Oloyun.

Clutching her investment documents, she said that she filed to pull out after inconsistency in payment but rescinded her decision when she was told that she could not get her investment back in full.

Mr Azeez, another investor, said he invested N1 million in September 2019 and had decided to pull out after he was not paid in November. He, however, vowed to pursue his profit with all his ability.

Mrs Bisola (second name withheld) said she invested the money sent to her by her military husband who is fighting insurgents in North East. She said she could not afford to lose the money. She urged the management to speak up and address the investment programme issue quickly.

Mrs. Sulaimon, an investor, said she aborted her trip to travel down from Badagry to Igando when she heard about the assassination of Oko Oloyun. She noted with tears that she had invested a lot and could not afford to lose her investment. She was however optimistic that the returns would be paid after meeting her co-investors who cheered her up.

However, in the midst of the lamentation, some investors who had visited the house of the late Oko Oloyun in Lagos alleged that they were denied access by the security men, with the statement that “Alhaja said we should not allow anybody to come in, they are all in Ibadan.”

After the outcry, the investors agreed among themselves to visit the house of the deceased in Lagos during the Fidau prayers on the eighth day to demand their returns.

However, a security man at Oko Oloyun’s Egan Idowu office alleged that one of the rooms in the head office was intentionally burnt by unknown men prior to Oko Oloyun’s death. He said the workers who were on duty had been arrested.

SOURCE: https://www.pmnewsnigeria.com/2020/01/24/investors-storm-oko-oloyuns-office-to-demand-their-money/

Nigeria’s Alex Okosi has taken over the reins at YouTube after his appointment as the Managing Director of Emerging Markets in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA). Prior to his appointment, Okosi was the Executive Vice President and Managing Director of Viacom/CBS Networks Africa and BET International.

Okosi will be taking over the YouTube business and partnership team in Europe, Middle East and Africa, to further drive the penetration of the video-on-demand platform in these locations, the Head of YouTube EMEA, Cecile Frot-Coutaz, said.

A statement by Frot-Coutaz said, “I look forward to welcoming Okosi to our YouTube EMEA leadership team. He brings a wealth of experience in the content industries and has a track record for building businesses and audiences in established and new markets. Okosi will be leading our existing teams in Russia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Turkey, the Middle East and North Africa (MEAN) to drive further expansion in these key markets.”

Okosi, while commenting his appointment, said, “I am very excited to be joining Frot-Coutaz’s leadership team to continue empowering creators and elevating value for viewers and partners across the region.”

WHY YOUTUBE IS TAKING THIS STEP
YouTube has been investing heavily to grow its customer base in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Part of the investment included the emPawa initiative created in collaboration with singer, Mr Eazi.

emPawa is an initiative announced July last year (2019) at the annual Google for Nigeria event. It was created to support creatives and untapped talents in the music industry. The initiative is the platform that produced Joeboy, the ‘Beginning’ crooner, and supported about nine other talents.

Frot-Coutaz explained that the platform has helped increase the fan base of these artistes beyond sub-Saharan Africa. This was the purpose of the creation. She disclosed that 70% of the views from the 25 most-watched Sub-Saharan African artistes came from outside the continent. It should be noted that YouTube launched YouTube Music and YouTube Premium in the Middle East and North Africa in September 2019.

ENORMOUS OPPORTUNITIES FOR FEW PLAYERS
The creation of these platforms shows there are still opportunities yet to be tapped in the music industry, and YouTube seems to be positioning itself to take advantage of the growing video music streaming industry in these regions. Unfortunately, unlike the audio-streaming market, the music-video streaming market is monopolised.

Currently, the video streaming music platform is monopolised by YouTube, and no other local or foreign music video streaming platform has come close to shaking up its dominance. However, the music video streaming market is large for new entrants, and with YouTube offering artistes one of the lowest streaming royalties, new platforms can take advantage of this payment gap to penetrate the market.

SOURCE: https://nairametrics.com/2020/01/24/youtube-appoints-nigerias-alex-okosi-to-head-its-european-middle-east-african-markets/

Spur Group, an information technology company from China, has said that it will establish a computer hard and soft wares manufacturing plant in Nigeria. The company stated this when its delegation visited Grace Ekpiwhre, minister of Science and Technology to fine-tune modalities for its take-off.

Mr Yang Ming, general manager of the firm, said they decided to invest in Nigeria because of the cordial investment climate and similarities of developmental challenges. He said his firm is one of the three top IT firms spreading e-government and IT enterprises in China.

He disclosed that the company is already in South Africa adding “we produce cheaper and affordable computers.” The company’s visit was facilitated by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology and the Nigeria Investment Promotion Commission (NIPC)

Responding, Ekpiwhre, advised the investors to consider safety measures and sustenance of sensitive computer equipment in its Research and Development scheme. She said that only tropicalised computers are needed in the country and that there was vast a market for information and telecommunication technology in Nigeria.

Ekpiwhre urged investors to consider the Nigerian environment by producing solar-powered computer systems for the country. She explained that this was the only way the present low IT penetration in the country could be overcome.

Ekpiwhre said the firm’s vision tallied with the Ministry’s policy of penetrating rural areas with ICT is in line with the e-government policy of the federal government. She urged the firm to hasten its presentation of concrete manufacturing proposals to the government.

The Minister assured them of government’s tax-free incentives and land to encourage foreign investment in the country.

SOURCE: https://brandspurng.com/2020/01/24/chinese-firm-plans-computer-plant-in-nigeria/

The UK-Africa investment summit which was held in London has yielded business deals of about £6.5 billion with Nigeria among the top gainers, according to the British government. In its official statement on the outcome of the summit, the UK said the deals signed with African countries span various sectors including trade, infrastructure, energy, retail and technology.

The commercial deals were signed with popular British firms such as Rolls Royce, GSK, and Diageo, in addition to “more (deals) worth billions”. The UK also announced over £1.5b of aid-funded initiatives “expected to create hundreds of thousands of jobs and mobilise over £2.4b of additional private investment for the continent”.

“The UK committed to over £397 million of new programmes to boost further trade and investment links between the UK and Africa,” it said.

“The UK also announced new initiatives and funding which will: strengthen the joint trading relationship, support African countries in their ambition to transform their economies, launch a major new partnership with the city of London, turbo-charge infrastructure financing, and enable Africa’s clean energy potential.”

WHAT DOES NIGERIA BENEFIT?
The statement said while at least 46 African countries will benefit from the business deals and new funded initiatives, there were also country-specific interventions announced. A close look at the interventions showed Nigeria was among the top beneficiaries with at least 7 of such interventions involving the country.

The statement said the UK government will: “Deliver new partnerships with Investment Promotion Agencies in Nigeria and South Africa (funding of £25 million).

“Significantly uplift work on women’s economic empowerment: expanding the Work and Opportunities for Women programme across Africa which works with business to improve economic opportunities and outcomes for women in their supply chains (funding of £6.1 million); expanding the SheTrades programme supporting female entrepreneurs to access trading opportunities in Ghana, Nigeria, and Kenya (funding of £3.5 million).

“Deliver a new Digital Access Programme in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa (£45 million of funding) to increase connectivity and digital skills of marginalised communities, build cybersecurity capacity and establish Tech Hubs to grow the local digital economy, and empower start-ups with the skills needed to expand globally.”

The UK announced it will also set up a Nigeria Regulatory Sandbox to support fintech firms to develop as well as a new facility in Nigeria that will “draw on UK expertise to help improve the provision and management of government infrastructure” with a funding of £80 million.

It added it will support a “just transition to clean energy, through a Clean Energy Pacesetter initiative” with Nigeria and six other African countries as well as support the Energy Commission of Nigeria to update its 2050 calculator, an energy and emissions model that supports sustainable development planning with funding of £60,000.

WHY AFRICA?
The latest summit is just one of the many that major world powers have held with Africa with the increasing interest in the continent. But why is this so? With a population of about 1.2 billion, Africa has been referred to as the opportunity for the world.

8 of the 15 fastest growing economies are expected to be in Africa while over one in four global consumers will be African by 2050. When ratified, the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement is expected to create the world’s largest free trade area.

SOURCE: https://www.thecable.ng/nigeria-among-top-gainers-as-uk-africa-summit-yields-6-5bn-deals-1-5bn-aid

You’ve heard of fast advancements in Asia’s economy. Now get ready for Africa’s. Among the world’s 30 fastest-growing cities, 21 are in Africa.

During 2019, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted about his plans to move to Africa in 2020, saying he wants to live there for up to 6 months. Africa may be the last continent to undergo rapid economic development, but Dorsey nevertheless believes it has a lot of potential.

Africa is an untapped market for digital-payment systems, and there is a pronounced first-mover advantage for Dorsey and especially for Square, his mobile-payment company, as he scours the continent for lucrative deals and investments.

This is precisely what he did during his last African tour, which started 8 Nov. 2019 and took him to Ghana, Ethiopia, Nigeria and South Africa. In the tweet, he also said Africa would define bitcoin’s BTCUSD, -0.55% future. This is unsurprising — Dorsey has been a bitcoin advocate for a while, and he plans to integrate the most popular cryptocurrency into Twitter and Square. His tour also took him to Ethiopia, where he was pitched by local startup companies.

For the past few years, Africa’s tech industry has experienced a great surge, and Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Huawei have taken notice and are already fishing for young talent among developers and tech specialists. These entrepreneurs and companies are well aware that there’s much more to Africa than safaris.

GROWTH OF TECHNOLOGY ECOSYSTEMS
According to Briter Bridges, the number of active tech hubs (currently active organizations with a physical local address that offer facilities and support for tech and digital entrepreneurs) in Africa has almost doubled over the past few years — from 314 in 2016 to 618 in 2019. This has sprung from multiple investment sources, including venture funds, development finance, corporate involvement as well as ever-growing, innovative communities.

The greatest concentration of tech hubs is in Nigeria (85), South Africa (80), Egypt (56) and Kenya (50). This is a great indicator of tech development that is taking place in Africa, and tech-oriented companies are dead set on reaping the benefits — in human potential as well as products and know-how.

LOOK BEYOND GDP
In 2017, the African Development Bank (ADB) reported the continent to be the world’s second-fastest growing economy. The latest data from ADB shows that Africa’s gross domestic product accelerated from an estimated 3.5% in 2018 to 4% in 2019.

At the start of year 2019, Fitch Solutions presented a gloomy economic outlook for the next decade in sub-Saharan Africa, saying that even though GDP will grow 4.5% on average over the next decade, average GDP per capita will stagnate.

A World Economic Forum (WEF) report addresses this and many other pessimistic evaluations as misleading and damaging, as they’re driving away investors. GDP projections for Africa, the document says, are based on scarce data because of a lack of sufficient funding and independence to acquire comprehensive data and calculate benchmark economic indicators. Official figures, therefore, are likely to be inaccurate. Here’s a good example:

In 2014, Nigeria rebased its GDP data for the first time in more than 20 years. The changes to the way GDP is calculated should be introduced every 5 years or so, but Nigeria’s national statistical agency had lacked the funding, data and political will to rebase regularly. When it finally did, Nigeria’s estimate of its GDP increased by 89%, moving it from Africa’s second-biggest economy (after South Africa) to the biggest one.

Instead of focusing on shaky and unreliable GDP figures, investors and companies that know better focus on the epicenters of African economic development: Cities. Of the 30 fastest-growing cities in the world, 21 are in Africa.

Consider this: Lagos, Nigeria’s largest city, has a greater economic output than Kenya, one of the fastest-growing economies in Africa. These growing urban areas present unique untapped markets, especially for digital-payment and mobile-oriented companies. Then there’s tourism in Africa, which is growing very rapidly. Business tourism has seen an uptick, with Kenya, Rwanda and South Africa all making an effort to position themselves as hotspots for conferences and exhibitions.

Africa is one of the biggest emerging markets in the world, offering tremendous opportunities for companies brave enough to seize them. Right now, these are tech companies, but as industrialization of the continent takes hold and industries such as ICT (information technology, communications), tourism, food processing, horticulture and new services exports develop, multiple opportunities for foreign investors will be created.

Hopefully, Africa’s economic renaissance is closer than we think.

SOURCE (updated): https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-next-decade-belongs-to-africa-as-technology-ripples-through-the-continent-2019-12-14

Chinonso Eche, an 11-year-old football freestyler, is making the headlines after setting a new Guiness World record. According to Guinness World Records (GWR), the precocious chap holds the record as the youngest person with “most consecutive football (soccer) touches in one minute while balancing a football on the head 111.”

Nigeria's @AmazingkidEche holds the record for most consecutive football (soccer) touches in one minute while balancing a football on the head ⚽️ 111 https:///3g8QKgQpmm
— GuinnessWorldRecords (@GWR) January 20, 2020

The Warri-born wonderkid had once revealed to BBC Africa how his father inspired him with videos of great football superstars including Okocha, Messi, and Ronaldinho. According to him, such clips ignited his interest in football as he hopes to play for the Super Eagles and other top European football teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, and Chelsea in the future.

“I love freestyling because it is my gift. In my school, I like to entertain my classmates. Some people call me an amazing Kid Eche,” he had said.

“I’m the best freestyler in Warri (south-south Nigeria). I started freestyling when I was eight. My dad had shown me some videos of Messi, Ronaldinho, and Okocha and I just started practicing.”

About my record https:///LdfErEqHnH

Youngest Nigerian @GWR holder#Amazingkideche #Chinonsoeche #echechinonso #Eche #eche10 #chukwuebukafreestyleentertainment #sportingfcwarri @africansinsport @SundayDareSD @SportsBmh @EBIONOME @iamzeezaga @oluwashina @emikogee @CNNAfrica pic.twitter.com/iJ8zarFScO
— Eche Chinonso (@AmazingkidEche) January 16, 2020

“Everyday, I wake up at 4: 30am, I do my training and then go to school. After school, I go to the field and play football with my teammates. I would like to play for big clubs, such as Barcelona, Real Madrid, Chelsea, and Super Eagles of Nigeria. I would like to be an international freestyler and travel all over the world.”

Eche further stretches the lists of Nigerian kids who have drawn international attention through their exploits.

Last year, Fathia Abdullahi, a 12-year-old girl, hit the international spotlight after creating a laundry-folding robot — barely a year after she started coding.

Trevor Noah is also expected to produce a movie about Adewumi, an 8-year-old Nigerian refugee, who won the NY State Chess Championship after “fleeing from Boko Haram.”

SOURCE: https://lifestyle.thecable.ng/spotlight-meet-eche-11-year-old-nigerian-football-freestyler-who-set-guinness-world-record/

Access Bank’s Chief Executive Officer, Herbert Wigwe, has sold 28.86 million shares worth N297.82m, which represents 2.33% of his stakes in the bank. The transaction, which was done through Trust Capital Limited, was disclosed in a notice filed at the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

This means Wigwe has sold 6.81% of his stake in the financial institution, as he had sold a 4.48% stake on Friday. The bank disclosed in a notification of insider dealing, which was filed at the NSE on Friday, that its CEO sold 55.6 million shares ordinary shares, which he held indirectly.

DETAILS
Access Bank said Wigwe held a total of 1.24 billion indirect shares as of April 2019. The indirect shares were made up of 537.73 million shares owned by United Alliance Company of Nigeria Limited and 702.56 million shares owned by Trust and Capital Limited. It said the 55.6 million shares sold were from Wigwe’s indirect holding through Trust and Capital Limited

It added that the number of shares sold was an aggregation of sales made on four different instances ― 3.61m shares on January 10, 20.14m shares on January 13, 9.24m shares on January 14 and 22.63m shares on January 15. Wigwe sold the shares at a price of N10.80 on January 10, N10.70 on January 13, N10.56 on January 14 and N10.22 on January 15. The additional 28.86 million shares were sold at N10.32 on January 16.

Out of the 15 members of Access Bank’s board of directors, Wigwe has the highest stake in the bank, directly owning 201.23 million shares and 1.24 billion shares indirectly.

INVESTORS RAISE CONCERNS
In what is looking like a major concern to investors, the bank CEO’s is selling down his shares just after the bank announced it had suspended its closed period. Earlier in the year, January 8th the bank announced it had suspended its closed period which it had earlier communicated on December 30th. The closed period was supposed to last until January 29th, 2020.

Some investors who spoke to Nairametrics on the condition of anonymity are now wondering if there is a connection between the back to back sale of shares and the abrupt suspension of the announcement of the closed period. While there is no proof, it is likely that as a leading member of the management of the bank he may have seen the results of the company giving him an undue advantage over other shareholders of the company who are not privy to results.

EFCC INVITE
Herbert Wigwe was recently reported to have been arrested by officials of the EFCC even though the bank denied it issuing a statement on the website of the Stock Exchange. The bank claimed he was merely invited by the EFCC for talks on how to resolve the issue between Abia State governor, Orji Uzor Kalu, and his company Slok Nigeria Limited and Access Bank.

“Given the differing interests of the Commission and the Bank on the assets of Slok deriving from the court’s recent judgment on Slok, the Commission had invited for interrogation officials of Access Bank who were handling the Bank’s recovery efforts on Slok credit including its Group Managing Director.

The share price of Access Bank Plc closed at N10 on December 31, and recorded a sustained appreciation up till January 8, where it closed a N11.80. Access Bank closed trading on Tuesday at N10.05 having opened at N10.75.

SOURCE (abridged): https://nairametrics.com/2020/01/22/concerns-as-herbert-wigwe-sells-28-8-million-access-bank-shares/

‘Eyimofe,’ a Nigerian movie meaning (this is my desire), has been selected for world premiere at the 70th Berlin International Film Festival, billed for next month. The movie, directed by twin brothers Arie and Chuko Esiri, will be shown at the forum section of the event holding in Germany.

‘Eyimofe’ addresses migrants’ endless pursuit for greener pastures in Europe and the reality they often meet at the end. It tells the story of two people’s quest for what they believe will be a better life in Europe. The movie, presented by GDN Studios, was written by Chuko Esiri and produced by Melissa Adeyemo. It featured several characters including Jude Akuwudike, Tomiwa Edun, Temi Ami-Williams, Cynthia Ebijie and Jacob Alexander.

The movie’s latest feat continues what has been a amazing ride for the project which emerged 2018 ‘Purple List Award’ winner and one of ten projects chosen for last year’s IFP Narrative Lab in New York. It also further showed Nigeria’s impressive record at the Berlin International Film Festival, considered one of the “Big Three” festivals alongside Cannes and Venice.

In 2018, Esiri and Adamu Halilu were the first Nigerian filmmakers to screen at the festival. While Esiri’s ‘Besida’ played in the short film section, Halilu’s 1976 feature ‘Shaihu Umar‘, an adaptation of Sir Tafawa Balewa’s 1955, was viewed in the forum.

SOURCE: https://lifestyle.thecable.ng/eyimofe-nigerian-film-on-migration-selected-for-berlin-film-festival/

The Nigerian Institute of Journalism has sacked one of its lecturers, Mr Tene John, over alleged sexual assault on one of its students, Ms Anjola Ogunyemi. His sack was announced by the NIJ in an official release signed by its Registrar and circulated on its official social media handles on Monday.

Lecturers in the journalism institute confirmed the authenticity of the release to our correspondent on the telephone.

The PUNCH gathered that Ogunyemi had accused Tene of attempting to forcefully have sexual intercourse with her in his office. The student, who subsequently petitioned the institute and demanded probe, said she has arrived at the institute for a morning lecture when the incident happened.

Upon investigation, the institute relieved Tene of his job and warned other lecturers and students to desist from such an act.

The release read in part, “Our attention has been drawn to a post on the social media, by one of our students, Ms Anjola Ogunyemi in National Diploma One, alleging sexual harassment against one of our part-time lecturers, Mr Tene John. Ms Ogunyemi’s petition to the school on the alleged sexual harassment was received on December 19, 2019 – the day of our vacation. And the Provost called her on that same day to acknowledge receipt of her petition, assuring her the matter will be looked into appropriately.

“The institution, thereafter, set up a panel of three lecturers: two females and a male. The panel sat and took evidence from the two parties and witnesses concerned. On Friday, January 17, 2020 – the last day of its sitting, the accused and the accuser were made to confront each other at the panel. It was difficult for the panel to establish concretely a case of sexual harassment in its report because there were glaring contradictions in the testimonies of the two parties and witnesses.

“We wish to place on record that Ms Ogunyemu walked out on the panel and ran to the social media to tell her story on the day the panel’s final sitting.

“In view of our institution’s zero tolerance for improper conduct on the part of the staff and students, and in light of the interest the matter has generated, the following decisions have been taken: the lecturer concerned, Mr Tene, who has been on our faculty for over a decade has been relieved of his appointment, we thank him for his services and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavours.

“Ms Ogunyemi, who has just returned from a one-year suspension over indecent dressing and gross misconduct is advised to adhere strictly to her matriculation oath of channeling her grievances to the authorities of the institution. We wish to reiterate that our staff and students are governed by rules and regulations and it is important we comply accordingly.”

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/nigerian-institute-of-journalism-sacks-lecturer-for-alleged-sexual-assault/

Commercial bus catches fire on the Kara Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday 21 January 2020.

A burning vehicle on Kara Bridge along the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway on Tuesday has caused traffic gridlock on the already narrowed bridge.

Officers of the Federal Road Safety Corps and firefighters were seen at the scene of the incident as of the time of filing this report.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/photos-burning-vehicle-causes-gridlock-on-kara-bridge/

Ahead the start of commercial operation on the new Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line, 20 new coaches have arrived Nigeria, 10 of which will be deployed along the route. A source at the Federal Ministry of Transportation who gave the hint on Sunday 19 January 2020 also said the remaining 10 new coaches would be sent to the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge rail line to ease the congestion being experienced on the route.

The new coaches from China were delivered last week, according to the source. “The 20 coaches will be inspected on Monday (today) by the minister during another round of assessment of work on the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line,” said the source.

Government had extended the new rail line project to the Lagos port as part of measures to ease congestion on the Apapa port roads. Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, is expected to inspect the port to Ebute-Meta line and ride on the train from Iddo to Abeokuta and Ibadan.

A 7-man delegation from the Federal Ministry of Transportation and the Nigerian Railway Corporation had recently returned to the country from China where they reportedly inspected about 44 units of coaches and locomotives meant for Nigerian train services.

There has been an upsurge in the number of passengers on the 186.5km Abuja-Kaduna train service following frequent cases of kidnapping along the Abuja-Kaduna road. This increase as well as shortage of coaches has resulted in alleged ticket racketeering by some railway workers.

This prompted the government to place order for the importation of 30 coaches and 300 wagons, with some of them meant for the Lagos-Ibadan rail line expected to be inaugurated in April or May this year.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/20-coaches-arrive-for-lagos-ibadan-abuja-kaduna-train-services/

Total of 9 companies were delisted from the Nigerian Stock Exchange in 2019. This wiped N165.11bn from the market capitalisation. Latest data obtained from the NSE showed that 2 of the companies were delisted due to regulatory reasons, one was due to a merger and 6 purely for voluntary reasons.

Skye Bank Plc and Fortis Microfinance Bank Plc were delisted for regulatory reasons while Diamond Bank Plc merged with Access Bank Plc. The remaining 7 companies applied for delisting voluntarily.

1. GREAT NIGERIA INSURANCE PLC
Delisted from the NSE on January 25, 2019 following the company’s voluntary application to delist. This wiped N1.91bn off total market capitalisation. Shareholders of the company had in July 2018 approved plans to delist from the NSE.

Chairman, Great Nigeria Insurance, Mr Bada Aluko, said the company’s decision to duelist from the NSE was a result of no trading on its shares for over 5 years. He said neither the company nor shareholders were benefiting from the continued listing as shares were not getting any exit opportunity and investments had been locked up while the company was bearing unnecessary cost in complying with its listing obligations.

A member of the Independent Shareholders Association of Nigeria, Mr Sunday Akinsoye, while speaking at the company’s Extraordinary General Meeting in 2018, said continuous fining of the company by the NSE was destroying the investment of minority shareholders. He noted that shareholders were unhappy with the regulator, adding that if money paid as fines was paid as dividends or invested, shareholders would be better for it.

In September 2019, Great Nigeria Insurance listed its shares on the NASD OTC Securities Exchange Plc, thereby opening up a window for trading in its shares after its exit from the NSE.

2. DIAMOND BANK PLC
Delisted from the NSE on April 1, 2019. Diamond Bank was acquired by Access Bank in December 2018 while it planned to complete the transactions of the merger fully in the first half of 2019. On April 1, Diamond Bank was fully merged with Access Bank to build a new entity while retaining the name of Access Bank with a logo that took the form of Diamond Bank.

The N56.05bn market capitalisation of Diamond Bank was added to that of Access Bank.

3. NEWREST ASL NIGERIA PLC
Delisted on 15 May 2019 following the company’s voluntary application in February 2019 to delist. This wiped N4.34bn off the market capitalisation.

While the NSE said the company’s application to delist was a result of its inability to meet up with the 20% free float requirement, Newrest ASL said its decision to delist was because “the illiquidity nature of the capital market rendered the primary corporate objective of the listing to raise capital and provide liquidity unattainable.”

The firm said there was a significant drop in its trading volumes from 78,094,753 units in the 2017 financial year to 9,029,052 units in the 2018 financial year. It said neither the company nor its shareholders were benefitting from the continued listing on the NSE.

4. FIRST ALUMINIUM NIGERIA PLC
Delisted from the NSE on 31 July 2019, taking N844m off the total market capitalisation. The company explained that its decision to delist from the NSE was because shareholders were not benefiting from the continued listing and were not getting exit opportunities. It added that its shares had continued to trade at a significant discount to the intrinsic value.

5. SKYE BANK PLC
Delisted from the NSE on 21 August 2019, following revocation of its licence by the Central Bank of Nigeria in September 2018. The delisting wiped N10.69bn off the market capitalisation of the NSE.

CBN Governor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, announced it had revoked the operating licence of Skye Bank, saying the assets and liabilities of the bank would be taken over by a new entity, Polaris Bank. It said the licence revocation was due to inability of its shareholders to adequately recapitalise the bank after the 2016 intervention.

6. FORTIS MICROFINANCE BANK PLC
Had its shares suspended from being traded on the floor of the NSE and delisted for failing to adhere to standard corporate governance and extant post-listing requirements. This depreciated total market capitalisation further by N11.80bn.

Fortis Microfinance Bank also experienced protracted governance crisis and internal breakdown of management controls, which ultimately led to the resignation of its interim Managing Director, Mrs Bunmi Lawson. CBN revoked its licence and the bank was finally liquidated by the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation.

7. DANGOTE FLOUR MILLS PLC
Delisted on 18 Nov 2019, taking N111.25bn from the market. This followed the approval of its shareholders to sell the company to Olam.

8. CONTINENTAL REINSURANCE PLC
Delisted 31 Dec 2019, dropping market capitalisation further by N22.82bn. Continental Reinsurance had applied for delisting as a result of plans to transfer the various subsidiaries of the group to Continental Reinsurance Investments. This would enable the company to shore up its balance sheet and capital required for maintaining and expanding the business.

9. A.G. LEVENTIS NIGERIA PLC
Delisted on 31 Dec 2019; dipped market capitalisation further by N1.46bn. A.G. Leventis’ exit was on the back of its purchase by shareholders of Boval S.A. on behalf of Leventis Holding S.A. and Leventis Overseas Limited.

The Managing Director, Afrinvest Securities Limited, Mr Ayodeji Ebo, said because of the prolonged lull in the capital market, there had not been any capital raise in the equities market as people had been using the debt market to raise funds. He noted that as a result, companies were not seeing the benefit of listing.

Ebo said, “It is more of fiscal policies trying to drive demand. If we see increased demand from fund managers, companies may begin to nurse the idea of starting with rights issue and then public offers. If the demand is really not there and capital is not available, people would be looking at more of fixed income investment. When we see this more, we would not even have new listings not to talk of capital raise.

He said it was not a surprise that companies were opting for delisting as investor demand was weak during year 2019.

SOURCE (abridged): https://punchng.com/nine-delisted-firms-wipe-off-n165-11bn-from-nse/

The finance bill signed by President Muhammadu Buhari will affect Nigeria’s economic space in more ways than one. Checks by TheCable showed that the bill amends 80 provisions across the companies income tax, petroleum profits tax, personal income tax, value-added tax, customs and excise duties, capital gains tax and stamp duties.

The bill, which was signed into law on Monday 13 January 2020, has a lot more implications (good or bad depending on what side you are on).

Apart from the VAT increase from 5% to 7.5%, here are 15 other implications of the new finance bill.

1. Raise value-added tax to 7.5% from 5%.

2. Businesses must immediately register for VAT: The bill provides that businesses must register for VAT filing from commencement of the business thus cancelling the 6 months grace period. It defines commencement of business as “date the first transaction is carried out or first advertises products for sale or first day it delivers or receives a consignment of goods”.

3. Sanitary products may get cheaper: VAT-exempt items have been expanded to include honey, bread, cereals, cooking oils, culinary herbs, fish. flour, starch, fruits, meat, poultry, milk, nuts, pulses, roots, salt, vegetables, water, sanitary pads, tampons, tertiary, secondary, primary and nursery tuition. This may translate to a slight decrease in the prices of these items as VAT is added to the price of items after production.

4. No more tax on compensations for job losses to an individual now tax-exempt except it exceeds N10 million.

5. Contrary to the widespread belief, you do not require a tax identification number (TIN) to operate your personal account. The bill states “Every person engaged in banking shall require that a person intending to open a bank account for the purposes of its business operations must provide a tax identification number as a precondition for opening such bank account or continued operation of a bank account”.

6. Nigerian companies to pay withholding tax for engaging foreign consultants with significant local economic presence.

7. No more 15% tax credit for companies that replaces obsolete machinery.

8. Dividends, rental income received by real-estate investment companies now exempt from company income tax provided 75% of such income is redistributed within 12 months.

9. All non-resident companies earning income from advertising, marketing, social media platforms etc would be subject to tax on profits realised in Nigeria.

10. Value-added tax will now be paid on services provided by non-resident companies. The bill states that consumers of such services must self-remit if VAT is not included in the invoice.

11. Minimum tax provisions amended to 0.5% of turnover and exemption only applies to small companies (less than 25m turnover), so non-resident companies will now pay minimum tax.

12. Companies with less than N25 million annual revenue to be exempted from VAT and company income tax.

13. Company income tax rate to be lowered from 30% to 20% for medium-sized companies, with revenues from 25 million to 100 million.

14. There will be a bonus of 2% (medium-sized company) and 1% (large-sized company) will apply for early payment of company income tax.

15. The N50 stamp duty on all inflows into accounts to apply to amounts from N10,000 and above.

16. Dividends from oil companies to be taxed.

SOURCE: https://www.thecable.ng/tin-business-accounts-vat-pads-15-ways-new-finance-bill-change-nigeria

Afenifere chieftains Pa Ayo Adebanjo and Senator Femi Okurounmu, on Saturday 18 January, lambasted the All Progressives Congress leader, Bola Tinubu, for his refusal to speak up on the Western Nigerian Security Network code-named ‘Operation Amotekun’. Tinubu’s Spokesman, Tunde Rahman, however, said the APC chieftain would speak at the appropriate time.

Tinubu, who is a former Lagos State governor and leading politicians in the South-West, is yet to speak on Amotekun security initiative launched by the 6 South-West governors 10 days ago. The initiative ignited controversy almost as soon as it was launched with the Federal Government and some leaders and interest groups in the North voicing opposition to the scheme while leaders of thought and the populace of the South West have shown overwhelming support for the initiative.

Tinubu’s continued silence on the matter has raised a few eyebrows given the strong support expressed for the initiative by the majority of Yoruba leaders across political divides.

Speaking with Sunday PUNCH, however, 91-year-old Adebanjo said Tinubu shouldn’t have formed an alliance with the North in the first place.

He said, “It was the likes of Tinubu that told us that the South-West would enjoy many privileges but what has the South-West benefitted from the alliance? He shouldn’t have forged an alliance with them in the first place. He asked the Yoruba people to vote for him (Buhari) and that things would be better. Now that they are being slaughtered and they don’t want us to have our security, you are keeping quiet all because you are being deceived that you will become the President which you will never be.

“I have continued to tell him that they are just deceiving him and he is deceiving himself. Which promise has Buhari made and fulfilled? In 2015, he said he would be a born again democrat but does he even obey court orders?”

Adebanjo said the silence of the likes of Tinubu would let the Yoruba people know who their real leaders were. He said the Federal Government had no right to discredit Amotekun when it had failed to provide adequate security.

The Afenifere chieftain added, “I have always told you that the Yoruba people know who their real leaders are. The problems that the Yoruba people are facing today were caused by men like Tinubu. If they had not gone to forge an alliance with Buhari, we wouldn’t be in this problem.

“I told them then that Buhari was only after power. If not, how is it that they neither want to protect us nor allow us protect ourselves? Why is the North allowed to have security agencies while we are not allowed to protect ourselves against armed persons? The police refuse to do anything because of the President’s body language. How could they have killed the daughter of our leader (Pa Reuben Fasoranti) and there has not been a single arrest?"

Also speaking, Senator Okurounmu said Tinubu’s silence had exposed him for what he is. Okunrounmu, who represented Ogun-Central senatorial district from 1999 to 2007, said Tinubu did not need any prodding before speaking up.

The former lawmaker said, “Tinubu doesn’t need to be prompted before speaking. We have all been speaking on the matter. Their silence is ominous. This thing was launched by the governors, not Afenifere. And such initiatives should be supported by all Yoruba people.

“Yoruba people are not idiots, we are not fools. If he doesn’t talk now, then we will know how to describe him. Nobody needs to tell us what he is. Nobody needs to call him anything. Even the illiterate man knows what he is. If the ordinary man on the street is in support of Amotekun, if all Yoruba people say this is what they want and he is refusing to talk, then his silence has exposed him for what he is. His silence speaks loudly.”

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of the Yoruba Council of Elders, Dr Kunle Olajide, in an interview with Sunday PUNCH said he expected Tinubu to have spoken on the issue of Operation Amotekun before now.

The YCE scribe said, “I expect him to have spoken much earlier. We are in a democracy and he (Tinubu) is the leader of the ruling party, as far as I am concerned, in the country and majority of the states in the South-West. But of course he also has the right to keep quiet if he doesn’t want to say anything. However, the general expectation of the Yoruba people is that being a political leader, he should speak on this type of issue.

“The Federal Government, through the Attorney-General of the Federation, is challenging the legality of our entrenched constitutional right to protect our lives and property. I expect our political leader (Tinubu) to be in the forefront of rebuking whoever authored the statement. We see him as a leader and we expect him to say something.”

However, Rahman who is Tinubu’s Media Adviser, said, “His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, would not take issue with anybody on the important matter of Amotekun. You know he is a deeply reflective person and a deep thinker. I know that at the appropriate time he would speak on the matter. What time is appropriate is his prerogative in my view. And I think we must all grant him that indulgence.”

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/adebanjo-okunronmu-yce-tackle-tinubu-over-silence-on-operation-amotekun/

Retired military leaders on Saturday endorsed the Western Nigeria Security Network initiative of the 6 South-West governors to check criminal activities in the zone. In separate interviews with Sunday PUNCH, they said the security outfit code-named Operation Amotekun would help to address security problems in the South-West.

The Attorney General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, said on Tuesday declared the outfit illegal.

Speaking in an interview with one of our correspondents on Saturday, a former Minister of Police Affairs, Major General David Jemibewon, argued that security arrangements at different levels were imperative to address the security challenges facing the country. Jemibewon, who was the military governor of the now-defunct Western State from 1975 to 1976, said there was a need to have security arrangements at the 3 tiers of government, insisting Operation Amoketun was not an illegal outfit.

The ex- military governor of Oyo State said, “The governors never committed any illegal act. What are the governors for? If the fundamental responsibility of government is to ensure safety of life and property, I do not see how anyone can turn around to say it (Operation Amotekun) is illegal or wrong to do that.”

Jemibewon said it would be unreasonable for a governor not to make efforts to secure his state “in the belief that the Federal Government will secure the nation”. He said South-West governors could go to court stop the Federal Government from stopping the outfit.

“Amotekun (officials) are not police; it’s just a local arrangement to support in the area of security. I do not think they are competing with the police.” He recalled how the FG resisted the establishment of the road safety corps in Oyo State, only to turn around to adopt the outfit now named Federal Road Safety Corps.

He said, “I know when we started the road safety corps in the West, in Oyo State, we had opposition. It was later that the FG saw that it was beautiful and then made it a federal institution. “People thought that by establishing it, we were taking over police work. But I am happy it has become a federal institution today and I think, anybody who thinks or wants to abrogate the FRSC will have some difficulties.”

Ex-military administrator of Lagos, Brig Gen Olagunsoye Oyinlola, said people have the right to evolve new security strategies if the government fails to protect them. He said Operation Amotekun had the backing of everyone in the South-West and faulted the AGF’s statement declaring the outfit illegal.

Oyinlola said, “I believe the Federal Government was wrong. I pioneered establishment of the special joint forces to combat crimes in this country with the establishment of Operation Sweep on May 15, 1995, in Lagos when I was military administrator. I did it at a time when criminals almost took over Lagos from the government because of the political crisis engendered by the annulment of the June 12, 1993 (presidential) election and detention of the winner.

“With support of the people, Operation Sweep did very well and all my successors, from Mohammed Marwa to Sanwo-Olu have kept to that template and improved on it. Almost all states have copied it under different code names but the introduction of Operation Amotekun, I am sure, will infuse new ideas into these structures and fill the gaps in our security ecosystem. The Federal Government should just key into the system instead of seeking to kill it.”

The ex-Osun State governor told South-West governors to go ahead with the initiative and continually improve on it, warning that they should guard against using it for politics.

Major General Abiodun Role said a centralised policing system had outlived its usefulness, adding that the move by the governors was long overdue. “I believe South-West governors have taken the bull by the horns and then two, three days after they launched Amotekun, Benue and Nasarawa governors met to also discuss the issue. South-East governors are also beginning to think, we have to start thinking.”

Ex-Provost Marshal of the Nigeria Army, Brig Gen Idada Ikponmwen, said the insecurity in the country was clear evidence of the need for fundamental reform in the structure of the police. According to him, the concept of governors being the chief security officers in their states imposes clear responsibility on them to have their own outfit to ensure security as well as ensuring law and order in their states.

He added, “As far as I am concerned, the idea of outlawing the effort in establishing Amotekun is unsustainable. Nothing can relate better to grassroots policing than Operation Amotekun. In my candid view, other zones should emulate what South-West governors have done.”

Ex-military administrator of Ogun State, Col Daniel Akintonde, however, cautioned the governors against taking the FG to court over the outfit, stressing that the slow pace of justice would frustrate them. He said, “I want it (security outfit) done at the state level because northern states are doing it. Because doing it at the regional level might be seen as a means to divide the country.”

But ex-Director of the Directorate of Military Intelligence, Col Kunle Toogun, urged the governors to go ahead with Operation Amotekun, insisting that they had the right to protect their people “because that was the most important responsibility they have as the chief security officers of their states”. He said the FG had failed to ensure safety of the lives and property in the region.

Toogun said, “Why should they not go ahead with Operation Amotekun? I will ask them to go ahead with it. Amotekun is just like community police and this is the way things are done in other parts of the world. There are other outfits such as Hisbah police and the Civilian Joint Task Force in the North. Why will Malami declare one illegal and okay others?”

Former Vice-President of the Nigerian Bar Association, Mr Justy Erhabor, said, “In the first place, the AGF’s declaration of Amotekun as illegal does not amount to an enforceable judgment of a competent court. This is a defining moment for South-West governors. They either stand with their people or betray them. The mere mention of Amotekun is already making the South-West safe.”

SOURCE (abridged): https://punchng.com/operation-amotekun-ignore-fg-jemibewon-oyinlola-others-tell-govs/

NSE Trading Summary for Friday 17 January 2020:

BULLS MAINTAIN MOMENTUM
Trading activities closed the week green. NSE All-Share Index and market capitalization appreciated 0.91% & 0.79% to close at 29,618.52 basis point & N15.26 trn respectively.

Overall year-to-date return = 10.34%.

UBA led the volume log with 65.74 million units followed by ACCESS with 47.47m and ZENITHBANK with 38.28m units. ZENITHBANK led the value chart with N844.89m followed by UBA with N584.80m and ACCESS with N495.53m.

CBN official exchange rate closed N306.90/$; Investors & Exporters FX rate closed at N361.84/$, while the parallel market rate closed N362/$.

At time of writing this report (4:40 pm), Brent Crude was being traded $64.78/p/b in the international commodities market.

ACTIVITY LEVELS
Total volume of 324.97m units of stocks worth N3.55b was exchanged in 4,175 deals. Financial Services Sector accounted for 71.20% of total volume traded (73.14% of value), Industrial Goods accounted for 7.66% of total volume (18.34% of value) while the ICT Sector accounted for 7.20% of volume (3.43% of value traded).

MARKET BREADTH CLOSED NEGATIVE
Advancers/Decliners ratio = 0.81x (negative for the day) with 13 gainers and 16 losers.

CORNERST led the gainers' chart with an increase of 7.41% to close at N0.58. It was followed by UACN and ACCESS which gained 7.00% and 4.35% to close N10.70 and N10.80 respectively. Decliners' log was led by GOLDBREW which lost 8.99% to close N0.81. In the same vein, OMATEK and CHIPLC shed 8.89% and 7.69% to close the day at N0.41 and N0.36 respectively.

OUTLOOK FOR NEXT WEEK
Next week, we expect positive real return amidst continued depressed fixed income yields; also attractive dividend yield should drive market performance.

We are of the opinion that investors and fund managers will continue to take advantage of cheaper valuations of stocks that are underpriced, as they rebalance their portfolios. We advise investors to review their positions in line with investment goal/strength of the company numbers and act as events unfold in the global and domestic environment. However, we would like to reiterate that investors go for equities with good fundamentals and intrinsic values.

DISCLAIMER
The info, opinions and recommendations contained herein are and must be construed solely as statements of opinion and not statements of fact. No warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose of any such recommendation or information is given or made by Arthur Stevens Asset Management Ltd in any form or manner whatsoever.

SOURCE (abridged): Arthur Stevens Asset Management Ltd

About 354 forex trade investors allegedly defrauded by an ex-banker, Seye Onigbinde, are currently embittered after their investments went down the drain. Some of them, who spoke with City Round on Friday 17 January 2020, said they were convinced to put their money into the scheme, thinking it would bring fortunes.

Onigbinde is being investigated by the police at the Area F Command, Ikeja, Lagos, led by ACP Akinbayo Olasoji, over a sum of N574.2m. He allegedly obtained the sum from his unsuspecting victims while promising them a monthly interest of 20 to 30%.

According to the police, the suspect claimed to have paid principal and interest to the tune of N482.3m, remaining an outstanding of N233.4m. It was gathered that the suspect operated the scheme as a business venture named Blueprint Business Development and Consulting located on Hughes Street, Alagomeji, Yaba.

The police spokesperson in the state, DSP Bala Elkana, while confirming Onigbinde’s arrest, had said, “He collected this money from these individuals with a promise of extraordinary gains to those willing to invest in the scheme which he claimed was built on lucrative trading in forex trading, Bitcoin and shares purchase from four international brokers.

“This get-rich-quick scheme attracted gullible and greedy investors, who received the expected high returns. The more investors his scheme attracted, he created a business and used agents to find more and more investors.”

Our correspondent gathered that the victims include bankers, business owners, and civil servants with individual investment ranging from N1m to N10m. Some of them, who spoke with City Round and identified themselves only by their first names, said Onigbinde dashed their hopes.

A worker at a consulting firm, Oyinlade, said her current investment is N1.3m, adding that a friend linked her with Onigbinde in February 2019.

“I started with N200,000 and I got 20% interest. I reinvested all the money and added N50,000. I got more money and reinvested. I thought it would yield a fortune and I increased it to N1.3m in July 2019. The money was supposed to be due for payment on September 29.

“He (Onigbinde) contacted me in October and begged that I should give him few days. Later, he promised to pay me in October. Afterwards, he shifted it to November. He said he would spread the payments across 3 months. That was the last conversation we had until January when he sent me an email, stating that I should give him one year to sort himself out.”

Another investor, Desola, who lost N2.3m, said she was convinced to invest in the scheme having heard the success stories of some of her friends. She recalled, “I invested in May 2019. I was supposed to receive payments from October to January with interest. I was expecting 30% interest. Together with my principal, I thought I would get something big at the end of the day.

“When he could not pay me in October, he started making promises. The last promise he made was that he would pay me in January. It was when I read about his arrest in the newspapers that I knew have been defrauded.”

Hassan, one of the agents working for the prime suspect, said his friend, one Victor, put N5m in the failed transactions, adding that Victor had wanted to use his principal and interest to execute a project in December 2019.

Hassan, a bank official, said, “Seye (Onigbinde) and I used to work at the same bank until 2016 when I joined another bank. Sometime in January 2019, he told me he was into forex trading. He persuaded me to invest and said I would get 20 to 30% interest on my principal. He also asked me to refer friends to him. I introduced a friend called Victor to him.

“Three months later, he approached me again and I gave it a try. I first invested N200,000 and got 20% interest at the end of the month. I then invested N1m and got 30% interest. I then introduced my brother to Seye. My brother invested N1m in June 2019. He received his principal and 30% interest at the end of the month. Two months later, he invested N2m but he didn’t get any interest.

“Victor initially invested N1m. He got the interest and increased his investment to N5m. He got the interest for some months. I sensed there was a problem with the scheme in October 2019 when he (Seye) started delaying in paying interest.

“I advised my brother and Victor that we should pull out of the transactions. My brother agreed and we collected our principal but Victor said he would continue. He said he had a project he wanted to use the money for in December.”

Adelaja, a businessman whose N2m was trapped, said one of Onigbinde’s agents identified as Peace persuaded him to stake his money. “She convinced me and I invested N2m. She had been telling me about the man (Onigbinde) for some time. She said the business was very reliable. I took my time to think about it. In November, I asked her if she was sure I would get 30% interest on my investment and she said yes. That was when I decided to invest. I have a strong feeling she connived with him.”

Onigbinde declined to speak with our correspondent, claiming that he had told the police everything about the case.

SOURCE (abridged): https://punchng.com/we-thought-forex-trading-would-bring-us-fortunes-n233m-fraud-victims/

NSE Trading Summary for Friday 17 January 2020

BULLS MAINTAIN MOMENTUM
Trading activities closed the week green. NSE All-Share Index and market capitalization appreciated 0.91% & 0.79% to close at 29,618.52 basis point & N15.26 trn respectively.

Overall year-to-date return = 10.34%.

UBA led the volume log with 65.74 million units followed by ACCESS with 47.47m and ZENITHBANK with 38.28m units. ZENITHBANK led the value chart with N844.89m followed by UBA with N584.80m and ACCESS with N495.53m.

CBN official exchange rate closed N306.90/$; Investors & Exporters FX rate closed at N361.84/$, while the parallel market rate closed N362/$.

At time of writing this report (4:40 pm), Brent Crude was being traded $64.78/p/b in the international commodities market.

ACTIVITY LEVELS
Total volume of 324.97m units of stocks worth N3.55b was exchanged in 4,175 deals. Financial Services Sector accounted for 71.20% of total volume traded (73.14% of value), Industrial Goods accounted for 7.66% of total volume (18.34% of value) while the ICT Sector accounted for 7.20% of volume (3.43% of value traded).

MARKET BREADTH CLOSED NEGATIVE
Advancers/Decliners ratio = 0.81x (negative for the day) with 13 gainers and 16 losers.

CORNERST led the gainers' chart with an increase of 7.41% to close at N0.58. It was followed by UACN and ACCESS which gained 7.00% and 4.35% to close N10.70 and N10.80 respectively. Decliners' log was led by GOLDBREW which lost 8.99% to close N0.81. In the same vein, OMATEK and CHIPLC shed 8.89% and 7.69% to close the day at N0.41 and N0.36 respectively.

OUTLOOK FOR NEXT WEEK
Next week, we expect positive real return amidst continued depressed fixed income yields; also attractive dividend yield should drive market performance.

We are of the opinion that investors and fund managers will continue to take advantage of cheaper valuations of stocks that are underpriced, as they rebalance their portfolios. We advise investors to review their positions in line with investment goal/strength of the company numbers and act as events unfold in the global and domestic environment. However, we would like to reiterate that investors go for equities with good fundamentals and intrinsic values.

DISCLAIMER
The info, opinions and recommendations contained herein are and must be construed solely as statements of opinion and not statements of fact. No warranty, express or implied, as to the accuracy, timeliness, completeness, merchantability or fitness for any particular purpose of any such recommendation or information is given or made by Arthur Stevens Asset Management Ltd in any form or manner whatsoever.

SOURCE (abridged): Arthur Stevens Asset Management Ltd

Adoption of ECO currency by 8 French speaking countries in West Africa has been kicked against by 6 English speaking nations in the region: Nigeria, Ghana, The Gambia, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Cameroon.

Countries under the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) had in July 2019 agreed to adopt a single currency with a flexible currency regime by January 2020. But in December 2019, Benin Republic, Burkina Faso, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger, Senegal and Togo, with the backing of France, announced they were changing their common currency, the CFA Franc, to ECO, through their union, West African Economic and Monetary Union.

This was seen as a big slap and some nations in West Africa claimed France was behind the hijacking of the single currency idea from ECOWAS countries. Ghana came out to speak on the matter and Nigeria followed, promising to study the issue and take appropriate action.

According to TVC News, after an extraordinary general meeting of ECOWAS heads of state and governments in the West African Monetary Zone convened to discuss the matter, Nigeria and 5 other Anglophone nations rejected the rebranding of CFA Franc to ECO.

The meeting notes with concern, the declaration by the chairman of the authority of the heads of state and government of the West African Economic and Monetary Union on December 21, 2019, to unilaterally rename the CFA Franc as Eco by 2020,” the broadcast media platform quoted a communique issued by the group.

“WAMZ convergence council wishes to emphasise that this action (is) not in line with the decision of the authority of heads of state and government of ECOWAS for the adoption of the Eco as the name of an independent ECOWAS single currency.

“WAMZ convergence council reiterates the importance for all ECOWAS member countries to adhere to the decisions of the ECOWAS authority of heads of state and government towards the implementation of the revised roadmap of the ECOWAS single currency programme,” it added.

SOURCE: https://businesspost.ng/economy/nigeria-ghana-others-reject-renaming-of-cfa-to-eco/amp/

Given the plans and strategies unveiled by the CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange, Mr. Oscar Onyema for year 2020, the stock market has prospects to sustain the positive performance observed since the beginning of this new year, writes Goddy Egene.

Given the performance of the Nigerian stock market in 2018 and 2019, most investors who are risk averse may decide to wait for some time before venturing into the market.

Any investor who adopts a wait and see strategy towards the equities market cannot be blamed because significant losses were incurred in last past 2 years. For instance, the market declined 17.8% in 2018 and 14.6% in 2019. Although, amid the uninspiring performance, some stocks appreciated and still fetched investors positive returns.

However, while some investors are still contemplating whether or not to invest in the stock market, CEO of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), Mr. Oscar Onyema, has no doubt in his mind that 2020 will be a good year.
Speaking in Lagos on Monday 13 January on the performance of the market in 2019 and outlook for 2020, Onyema expressed optimism that the market would record a positive performance this year.

He said the market has bright prospects, stressing that market sentiments may be buoyed by a steady and stable recovery in the domestic economy, alongside continued sustainability in monetary policy.
“The signing into law of Nigeria’s Finance Bill 2019 and implementation of the 2020 budget may have a positive impact on companies’ earnings as well as consumer spending. Accordingly, the exchange will continue to advocate for business-friendly economic environment, working in conjunction with both the public and private sectors,” he said.

The NSE boss noted that in their aspiration to become a more agile and demutualised exchange, and pursuant to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)’s ‘No Objection’, they will proceed to next steps which include seeking formal approval from their members on their demutualisation scheme.

“We are committed to continually provide clarity on the demutualisation process to our various stakeholders through regular engagements. While keeping an eye on the strategic intent of the exchange post demutualisation, we will continue to leverage our vast network of stakeholders, in addition to developing new strategic partnerships with the goal of delivering better products and services to our customers. As African Champions, we will maintain momentum in executing the NSE’s 2018 – 2021 Corporate Strategy in our efforts to elevate the prominence of Africa’s global financial markets,” he said.

Speaking on some of factors that will drive investors’ sentiments in 2020, Onyema said a stable polity and business environment would be key to Nigeria’s success.

“Enhanced focus on infrastructure renaissance and promotion of laws that will support the business environment will be key to Nigeria’s success in 2020. Nigeria moved 15 places from 146th to 131st in the latest World Bank ease of doing business report; as such, the country has been tagged one of the most improved economies in the world in terms of doing business reforms. These are positive indicators that will drive investors’ sentiment in 2020,” he said.

LOOKING BACK AT 2019
Looking back at the market performance in 2019, Onyema, said the Nigerian stock market (which declined 14.6%) mirrored the performance of the larger economy, which continued its moderate path of recovery, growing by 2.28%. He added: “From an international investor’s perspective, the Nigerian bourse had to compete with developed and emerging capital markets which saw risk-based assets priced and valued more competitively.

“Capital conducive United States Fed policy enabled foreign investors to economically enhance leverage and seek investment opportunities in their home and adjacent countries, as Africa’s largest economy adjusted to new economic realities. On the domestic front, investors contended with the macroeconomic landscape; fiscal and monetary policy direction and a wait-and see attitude given trends in foreign portfolio investors(FPIs).”

Further reviewing the market performance in 2019, Onyema said although the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE)’s All Share Index (ASI) posted a negative return of 14.6% to close the year at 26,842.07, the ASI reached a year high of 32,715.20 in February 2019.

“However, the equities market capitalisation increased by 10.55% to N12.97 trillion from N11.73 trillion in 2018, largely due to sustained primary market activities throughout the year, most notably the listings of MTN Nigeria Communications Plc and Airtel Africa,” he said.

Onyema said the NSE indices also posted negative returns during the year with the NSE Consumer Goods Index being the most impacted, declining 20.83%, followed by the NSE Main Board Index and NSE Lotus Islamic Index, which dropped 20% and 17.87% respectively. According to him, the NSE Insurance Index and the NSE Premium Index were the least impacted, declining by 0.52% and 3.59% respectively.

He disclosed that the equity market turnover decreased 19.7% from N1.2 trillion recorded in December 2018 to N0.96 trillion in December 2019, noting that the Financial Services Sector, which accounted for over 50% of total activity remained the highest traded in volume and value, as was the case in 2018.

“To support the equity market in 2019, we rolled out various new initiatives such as a new market structure to enhance liquidity and ensure overall market stability alongside efficiency, as well as launched the beta version of the X-Mobile App (a dynamic and user-friendly mobile app) to boost retail investors participation,” he said.

The NSE boss noted that the fixed income product market performed exceptionally well in 2019, as market capitalisation increased by 20.42% to N12.92 trillion from N10.72 trillion in 2018. “Turnover also increased 389.26% compared to 2018. Capital raising was dominated by the federal government, being responsible for 60% of bond issuances during the period in a bid to finance fiscal and infrastructure deficits.

“The year 2019 saw the groundbreaking listing of Access Bank Plc’s N15 billion Green Bond, the first of its kind to be issued by an African corporate. We also saw the listing of North South Power Company Limited’s N8.5Bn corporate infrastructure Green Bond, which was oversubscribed by 60%, with firm commitments from 12 institutional investors including 9 pension funds. Capital raising by corporates increased by 321.6% with a total of N132.68 billion raised in 2019,” he said.

According to him, in addition to the above accomplishments, the NSE signed an MoU with the Luxembourg Stock Exchange (the largest Green Bond listing platform in the world) at the World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) conference held in Singapore. “The MoU is geared towards promoting cross-listing and trading of Green Bonds in Nigeria and Luxembourg. We believe relationships of this nature, which foster co-opetition, further enhances our ability to deliver greater value to our stakeholders,” he said.

In the Exchange Traded Fund (ETF) market, he said they saw the listing of Greenwich Alpha ETF from Greenwich Asset Management Limited which tracks the NSE 30 index. “Despite the 61.37% decline in trade volumes, 46.43% fall in turnover, there was a 7.43% increase in market capitalisation to close the year at N6.58 billion. The best performing ETF was the NewGold ETF as it returned 31.75% indicative of the shift towards more stable investment securities.

“Also, to optimise investors returns, we partnered Afrinvest Securities Limited to launch two new factor indices: the NSE-Afrinvest Banking Value Index and NSE Afrinvest High Dividend Yield Index. Similarly, we partnered Meristem Securities Limited to launch the NSE-Meristem Growth Index and NSE-Meristem Value Index to provide a benchmark for the market to gauge the performance of value stocks and growth stocks listed on the NSE,” he said.

Onyema said despite challenges faced, they continued to execute on the NSE’s 2018 – 2021 Corporate Strategy, geared towards: enhancing the customer experience across the value chain; re-organisation for success and capitalizing on mission critical strategic initiatives.

“During the year, we continued to enhance our product portfolio, orchestrated groundbreaking investment forums and listed some of Africa’s largest companies,” he said. “Looking at some of the milestones recorded in 2019, the NSE boss said they facilitated the restitutions and recoveries of shares worth N1.436b and also worked with securities lending agents to develop a securities lending pool currently worth about N1.07b.

“The NSE launched: X-Mobile App to boost investors’ participation; investor relations data pack to enhance issuers’ stakeholder engagement and mutual fund trading and distribution platform to enhance the retail customer experience,” he added.

On market development, he said the exchange hosted interactive session in collaboration with Coronation Merchant Bank to spur growth in the insurance sector.

“The NSE also hosted an interactive session with stakeholders in the Consumer Goods Sector to discuss the role of the capital market in unlocking value in its sector. We also held the inaugural edition of the Islamic Finance in Nigeria (IFN) forum in partnership with REDmoney Group to harness the Islamic Finance Sector for infrastructure development and economic growth. We equally organised fixed income trading workshop and retail investor coverage workshop to enhance the capacity of dealing members and increase investors participation from various investment classes,” he added.

SOURCE (abridged): https://www.thisdaylive.com/index.php/2020/01/15/bright-prospects-for-stock-market/

The best rally in Nigerian stocks since mid-2017 is underscoring how much more attention investors in Africa’s largest oil producer are paying to the quest for returns rather than worrying about the price of crude oil.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index edged 0.1% higher on Friday 10 January 2020, bringing its weekly advance to more than 9%. The gains, the best performance by any of the more than 90 global benchmarks tracked by Bloomberg over the five days, are more striking when compared to the 6% retreat in crude oil as Middle East tensions ebb.

STOCKS IN NIGERIA'S OIL-RELIANT ECONOMY RESIST DROP IN CRUDE
Investors are turning to stocks in the continent’s most-populous nation as they flee a slump in fixed-income rates. Yields on Nigerian Treasury bills have dropped to a decade low since the central bank in October restricted the purchase of its highest-yielding, short-term securities to banks, barring individuals and other institutions. Stocks have risen 10 days in a row, the longest such sequence since July 2017.

“You might see the pension fund managers increasing their exposure to equities and that might result in a technical performance that is quite positive, especially now in the first quarter as the banks start to announce dividends,” Ronak Gadhia, sub-Saharan African banks director at Cairo-based EFG Hermes, said by email.
Lagos stocks have rallied for 10 days

Low interest rates are improving the potential investors see for better earnings and stock performance, said Ayodeji Ebo, managing director at Afrinvest Securities in Lagos. “Many fast-moving-consumer-goods companies are refinancing their loans in the low-interest environment, and that is going to be positive for their margins.”

And, after declines of 15% last year and 18% in 2018, equities in Nigeria may have reached enticing valuation levels that will support sentiment beyond the tearaway start to January. There is at least one sign that investors betting on further gains should be cautious, though: the benchmark index’s 14-day relative strength index has climbed to almost 86, well beyond the level of 70 that some technical analysts view as a sign the gains may be overdone.

SOURCE (abridged): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-01-10/lagos-stock-rally-shows-how-search-for-yield-outweighs-oil-moves

Congestion on Apapa port roads in Lagos, eastern port reduced charges and other incentives may have encouraged more vessels to berth at the eastern ports. There are currently 165 vessels moored at the eastern ports of Calabar, Rivers and Onne, findings by our correspondent have shown.

At the Rivers port, there are 50 vessels while 11 vessels are being expected. Calabar has 8 vessels while one is being expected. Onne, which is the largest oil and gas free zone in the world, has about 107 vessels while 12 are expected. It was gathered that all the vessels arrived this month.

The Lagos Port Complex has received 78 vessels while 61 are expected.

The situation was the reverse in December 2019 as the Lagos port complex received 13 vessels while Calabar, Rivers and Warri ports berthed a total of 6 vessels; 3, 1, and 2 respectively.

According to data obtained from the Nigerian Ports Authority Shipping Position, one of the vessels that called at Calabar port carried bulk wheat, another carried petrol while the third carried ballast. The vessel that called at Warri port on December 29 carried tiles and floating glass.

On December 25, 2019, a vessel, Asian Champion, called at Rivers port with bulk wheat while another one, Tornado, berthed on December 30 with Premium Motor Spirit (petrol). At the Lagos port, vessels called from December 24 to December 31 bearing items ranging from bulk sugar to bulk wheat, petrol and general cargo.

Traffic to the Lagos port was very heavy in December leading to spillover of congestion that started inside the port and extended to the access roads. The situation is the same most year-end around Lagos port at the expense of the eastern ports. This has been blamed for the constant gridlock along the ports and in Lagos as a whole.

Asked why the other ports outside Lagos could not attract vessel traffic, the NPA Managing Director, Hadiza Bala-Usman, said the decision to direct cargoes to ports outside Lagos was in the hands of the importers, adding nobody could force the importers to direct their cargoes to eastern ports.

On the preference for Lagos ports, an importer, Eddy Akwaeze, told our correspondent that insecurity and low sea draft had made the eastern ports unattractive. He said, “These two factors make a port very unattractive. No importer wants to risk losing millions of naira worth of cargo because he took a decision to direct his cargo to a piracy prone region.

“Also, vessels are larger these days and if they should anchor at seas with low draft, they will be stuck and the damage will be huge.”

Eastern port drafts are between 6 and 7 metres while the Lagos port drafts are between 10 and 11 metres. Akwaeze called on the government to dredge the eastern ports to deeper draft to attract larger vessels.

In an effort to give the eastern ports deeper draft, the NPA in 2018, dredged the Escravos channel in Warri port for over N16bn. However, the port could only be dredged to 7 metres as the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation pipelines buried underneath the sea bed prevented further dredging.

The authority also reduced charges on ships calling at the eastern port to woo vessels. It encouraged flat-bottomed vessels that did not require much sea depth to call at the Rivers and Calabar ports. These initiatives have yielded results as there has been an improvement of vessel traffic in the area, evidenced from the January traffic. Between June and July 2019, 200 vessels called at Warri port following improved security around the area.

Stakeholders have, however, called for more efforts this year to improve the situation further and completely rid the Lagos port of congestion.

“The government needs to do more to divert cargoes to eastern ports. This should be done through strengthened security infrastructure as well as dredging the ocean for deeper draft,” the Zonal Coordinator, Save Nigeria Freight Forwarders, Dr Osita Chukwu, said.

An official of the Road Transport Workers Association of Nigeria, Mr Godwin Ikeji, said increased cargo traffic to the eastern ports would reduce both the cost of transportation and the challenge faced by transporters in Lagos.

SOURCE: https://punchng.com/apapa-gridlock-more-vessels-berth-at-eastern-ports/

Time they say, heals all wounds but does not erase all scars. These indelible scars remain constant reminders of the past and serve either as inspiration or warning to avoid repeating certain mistakes.

The experience of many Nigerians with the Mavrodi Mondial Movement (MMM) ponzi scheme is far from over. The scheme, with subsidiaries in up to 110 countries, was first launched in Nigeria in 2016. In January 2017, Sergey Mavrodi, founder of MMM, announced that all Nigerian accounts from 2016 would be frozen, asking that they pay some money into the system before they can cash out their prior investments.

That was the first time the company would fail with its return plans, subjecting many Nigerians to hardship. Some even commited suicide. The Nigerian Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC) later announced that an estimated 3 million Nigerians lost N18 billion to MMM.

Recounting his experience, a Twitter user, @mrmikerezzy, said January 11 made it “4 years that MMM made me faint inside one Nkwobi Joint like that”.

Mike’s tweet elicited reactions from other Nigerians who had similar experiences. Replying to Mike’s tweet, @OmideyiOlaide, another Twitter user, said the scheme crashed 2 days after his neighbour’s wife invested the family’s feeding allowance for the month in it.

Another person said he lost N300,000 but smiled when he learnt his friend’s mother lost N3 million.

Below are the experiences shared by some Nigerians:

Today will make it 4 years MMM made me faint inside one Nkwobi Joint like that �
— MIKE (@mrmikerezzy) January 11, 2020

I Lost 300K , But When I Think Of My Friend's Mom Who Lost 3M, I Just Smile
— POSTINOR 2 (@Henrymorgan_Nwh) January 11, 2020

My neighbour's wife used their feeding allowance do MMM and 2 days later, it collapsed. They almost ate grass that month. The husband was too shocked because the woman was a 'prayer warrior' in their church.
— Olaide Abdulmummini Omideyi (@OmideyiOlaide) January 11, 2020

E dy slap harder when person dy broke
— MIKE (@mrmikerezzy) January 11, 2020

Those bastards nearly finished my Life. But by the grace of God we move on
— victor (@vikem4me) January 12, 2020

pls don't remind me. I used all my savings I came to Lagos with to get an apartment and start a new life went down with it. It wasn't easy as I nearly ran mad. Friends started showing me shege but to God be the glory we don't look like what we've been through.
— �@meldireal⚜️ (@meldireal) January 12, 2020

������ me too my first 20k I ever saved in my life, entered there and never made it out alive.The kind of heart break .����
— Mirabel Oghenekaro (@mirabelivy) January 12, 2020

Lucky guy
— MIKE (@mrmikerezzy) January 12, 2020

My neighbor wey Dem settle newly then carry em settlement money take do mmm….Kai..it wasn't funny then at all.
— ujunwa kamsy (@UjunwaKamsy) January 12, 2020

I was eating Christmas meat that year. E no sweet. It was doing me somehow.
Since that day I swore I would never be scammed again in my life
— Lord X (@vhatNiccur) January 12, 2020

Late dad gave me R550 as a birthday � in Dec'95 & immediately introduced me to Sun Multi Serve.
Was yet to be paid out yet called it his SMS & urged ME to push him up the ladder just like? �
— Mots-wana_tswi… (@Oag_Whagha) January 11, 2020

The scheme announced that it was shutting down in April 2018 following the demise of Mavrodi who died from a heart attack.

SOURCE: https://www.thecable.ng/i-almost-died-nigerians-recall-mmm-horror-tales-four-years-after-collapse

Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) says it supplied 1.16 billion litres of petrol in October 2019, translating to 37.30 million litres per day. This figure represents a drop of 570m litres from the 1.76b litres at 55.74m litres per day distributed in July 2019.

The corporation said it recorded a trading surplus of N13.23b in October 2019, a 54% increase from the N8.59b posted in September.

In a statement signed by Samson Makoji, acting general manager for the public affairs division, said there were 35 vandalised pipeline points in the month under review compared to 186 vandalised points in September.

“Out of the vandalized points, eight failed to be welded, while only one pipeline was ruptured, with Ibadan-Ilorin axis accounting for 34% of the breaks, while ATC-Mosimi and other routes accounted for 23% and 43% respectively,” the statement read.

“To underline the increasing fortunes of the corporation in recent times, the September 2019 trading surplus of ₦8.59b, in turn, indicated a significant increase of 65% compared to the ₦5.20b surplus posted in August 2019, even as that beat the ₦4.26b surplus posted in July 2019, reflecting an increase of 22%.”

According to the 51st edition of the monthly financial and operations report, the total crude oil and gas export was worth $483.25m in October 2019. A breakdown showed that crude oil export sales contributed $396.94m (82.14%) of the dollar transactions while export gas sales for the month amounted to $86.32m.

The October 2018 to October 2019 crude oil and Gas transactions indicated that crude oil & gas worth $5.4b was exported.

In November, the federal government, through the Nigeria Customs Service, directed that petroleum products should not be supplied to fuel stations within 20km of the borders. The action, which is ongoing, is being carried out under the Operation Swift Response which is supervising the land border closure to check smuggling activities.

SOURCE (abridged): http://petrobarometer.thecable.ng/2020/01/02/nnpc-petrol-distribution-drops-570m-litres-four-months/

About 35 people have been reportedly killed and another 58 abducted after suspected bandits invaded 10 communities in Chikun and Birnin Gwari local government areas of Kaduna state. The gunmen were said to have invaded the villages and carried out the attacks on January 6, and subsequently demanded payment of N100 million ransom for the release of their victims.

The attacks has caused some residents to panic and flee their homes, taking refuge in government schools and other communities.

Speaking when Jonathan Asake, president of Southern Kaduna Peoples Union (SOKAPU), visited victims of the attack on Monday at aschool, one Habila Sarkin Noma, a clergyman, said the bandits have called to say “we must produce N100m as ransom if we want to have them alive”.

He alleged that the suspects were herdsmen who have been attacking the villages persistently, and “would graze on our crops and threatened to kill us if we protest. Sometimes when they attack and take captives, we will manage and pay ransom. Even after paying, sometimes they kill the victims,” Habila said.

“But the attacks that took place on the 6th January, 2020, was the worst, they killed a about a total of 35 people and kidnapped a total of 58 people in 10 villages.”

He listed the affected villages to include Badna, Zankoro, Hayin Damisa, Unguwan Badole, Badimi, Kuderi and Unguwan Doma in Chukun LGA while others include Rumana Gbagyi, Rumana Hausa and Malomo in
Birnin Gwari LGA. According to him, the invaders came in hundreds and were well armed.

Addressing journalists during the visit, Asake asked the government and international community to come to the aid of the victims.

“As you can see from the way these people are, they are seriously traumatized and needed immediate assistance to be able to hold on. We have been told that the suspected bandits destroyed all their farm products and also destroyed their houses leaving them with nothing to call their own.

“Here at Ungwar Beji, there are about 200 of them with no food, beds or clothes while we are also been told that about 8,000 of them have converged at Buruku with nothing with them. Worst of all, most of the children are sick. This calls for concern on all people of good will to come to their aid in any kind in order to give them hope of survival before steps could be taken on the area of their education.”

TheCable could not independently verify details of the attack and casualties as calls placed to Yakubu Sabo, spokesman of the Kaduna state police command, were not answered.

SOURCE(abridged): https://www.thecable.ng/gunmen-kill-35-in-kaduna-demand-n100m-ransom-for-58-victims

Aminu Masari, governor of Katsina state, says the children abandoned in the forest across the region without education are now coming back to fight the society as bandits. The governor said this at the weekend, while addressing his administration’s effort in curbing the activities of bandits in the state.

Masari said if the education of the people is not addressed, the situation might become worse in the future.

“We have problems now with the forest people because they have no education of any kind. They do not have Islamic education and they do not have Western education because they have been abandoned in the forest and forgotten. So these are the kind of children who have come up today, fighting us, fighting the society,” Masari said.

“If we don’t do more to address it, what will come out of the forest in the next 20 years compared with what we have today, will turn out to be like a child’s play. Due to lack of education, they only know one pleasure, which is pleasure of the flesh and that is why they keep on producing children in large numbers.

“I was told this evening that somebody can mobilise over 350 armed men from the forest and we are talking about 350 men without formal schooling, neither Islamic nor Western and they are all married and have children.”

SOURCE: https://www.thecable.ng/masari-children-abandoned-in-the-forest-now-fighting-us-as-bandits

Vitamin C is a very important nutrient that’s abundant in many fruits and vegetables. Getting enough of this vitamin is especially important for maintaining a healthy immune system. It also plays an important role in wound healing, keeping your bones strong, and enhancing brain function.

Interestingly, some claim that vitamin C supplements provide benefits beyond those that can be obtained from the vitamin C found in food. One of the most common reasons people take vitamin C supplements is the idea that they help prevent the common cold.

However, many supplements contain extremely high amounts of the vitamin, which can cause undesirable side effects in some cases.

This article explores the overall safety of vitamin C, whether it's possible to consume too much, and the potential adverse effects of taking large doses.

VITAMIN C IS WATER-SOLUBLE AND NOT STORED IN YOUR BODY
Vitamin C is a water-soluble vitamin, which means it dissolves in water. In contrast to fat-soluble vitamins, water-soluble vitamins do not get stored within the body. Instead, the vitamin C that you consume gets transported to your tissues via body fluids, and any extra gets excreted in urine.

Since your body does not store vitamin C or produce it on its own, it’s important to consume foods that are rich in vitamin C daily. However, supplementing with high amounts of vitamin C can lead to adverse effects, such as digestive distress and kidney stones.

That’s because if you overload your body with larger-than-normal doses of this vitamin, it will start to accumulate, potentially leading to overdose symptoms. It’s important to note that it’s unnecessary for most people to take vitamin C supplements, as you can easily get enough by eating fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables.

TOO MUCH VITAMIN C MAY CAUSE DIGESTIVE SYMPTOMS
The most common side effect of high vitamin C intake is digestive distress. In general, these side effects do not occur from eating foods that contain vitamin C, but rather from taking the vitamin in supplement form.

You’re most likely to experience digestive symptoms if you consume more than 2,000 mg at once. Thus, a tolerable upper limit (TUL) of 2,000 mg per day has been established. The most common digestive symptoms of excessive vitamin C intake are diarrhea and nausea. Excessive intake has also been reported to lead to acid reflux, although this is not supported by evidence.

If you’re experiencing digestive problems as a result of taking too much vitamin C, simply cut back your supplement dose or avoid vitamin C supplements altogether (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source, 5Trusted Source).

VITAMIN C MAY CAUSE IRON OVERLOAD
Vitamin C is known to enhance iron absorption. It can bind to non-heme iron, which is found in plant foods. Non-heme iron is not absorbed by your body as efficiently as heme iron, the type of iron found in animal products. Vitamin C binds with non-heme iron, making it much easier for your body to absorb. This is an important function, especially for individuals who get most of their iron from plant-based foods.

One study in adults found that iron absorption increased by 67% when they took 100 mg of vitamin C with a meal. However, individuals with conditions that increase the risk of iron accumulation in the body, such as hemochromatosis, should be cautious with vitamin C supplements.

Under these circumstances, taking vitamin C in excess may lead to iron overload, which can cause serious damage to your heart, liver, pancreas, thyroid, and central nervous system. That said, iron overload is highly unlikely if you don't have a condition that increases iron absorption. Additionally, iron overload is more likely to occur when excess iron is consumed in supplement form.

TAKING SUPPLEMENTS IN HIGH DOSES MAY LEAD TO KIDNEY STONES
Excess vitamin C is excreted from the body as oxalate, a bodily waste product. Oxalate typically exits the body via urine. However, under some circumstances, oxalate may bind to minerals and form crystals that can lead to the formation of kidney stones.

Consuming too much vitamin C has the potential to increase the amount of oxalate in your urine, thus increasing the risk of developing kidney stones. In one study that had adults take a 1,000-mg vitamin C supplement twice daily for 6 days, the amount of oxalate they excreted increased by 20%.

High vitamin C intake is not only associated with greater amounts of urinary oxalate but also linked to the development of kidney stones, especially if you consume amounts greater than 2,000 mg. Reports of kidney failure have also been reported in people who have taken more than 2,000 mg in a day. However, this is extremely rare, especially in healthy people.

HOW MUCH VITAMIN C IS TOO MUCH?
Since vitamin C is water-soluble and your body excretes excess amounts of it within a few hours after you consume it, it’s quite difficult to consume too much. In fact, it is nearly impossible for you to get too much vitamin C from your diet alone. In healthy people, any extra vitamin C consumed above the recommended daily amount simply gets flushed out of the body.

To put it in perspective, you would need to consume 29 oranges or 13 bell peppers before your intake reached the tolerable upper limit. However, the risks of vitamin C overdose are higher when people take supplements, and it is possible to consume too much of the vitamin in some circumstances.

For example, those with conditions that increase the risk of iron overload or are prone to kidney stones should be cautious with their vitamin C intake. All the adverse effects of vitamin C, including digestive distress and kidney stones, appear to occur when people take it in mega doses greater than 2,000 mg.

If you choose to take a vitamin C supplement, it is best to choose one that contains no more than 100% of your daily needs. That’s 90 mg per day for men and 75 mg per day for women.

THE BOTTOM LINE
Vitamin C is generally safe for most people. This is especially true if you get it from foods, rather than supplements. Individuals who take vitamin C in supplement form are at greater risk of consuming too much of it and experiencing side effects, the most common of which are digestive symptoms.

However, more serious consequences, such as iron overload and kidney stones, may also result from taking extreme amounts of vitamin C. Fortunately, it’s easy to prevent these potential side effects — simply avoid vitamin C supplements.

Unless you have a vitamin C deficiency, which rarely occurs in healthy people, it is probably unnecessary for you to take large doses of this vitamin.

SOURCE: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/side-effects-of-too-much-vitamin-c#vitamin-c

Nigerians spent about N6.97 bn to watch films in the cinemas across the country in 2019. This is according to data provided by cinemas and gathered by the Cinema Exhibitors Association of Nigeria (CEAN), NAN reports.

The year opened with ‘Aquaman’, ‘Chief Daddy’ and ‘Up North’ sitting on the top three of the chart, with estimated combined earnings of N168,263,512m. Earnings remained low for February, making it the lowest grossing month with a total of N291.8m. By March, viewership picked up steadily and the earnings were almost doubled from that of February leading to a total of N434,432,431m.

Earnings from April climbed from N186,929,188m in its third week to N342,382,389m in its final week. The month closed with estimated total earnings of N734,151,060m due to a major boost from Disney’s ‘Endgame’. In May, there was a massive dip in earnings similar to that experienced in February. With ‘Endgame’, ‘The Intruder’ and ‘Longshot’, it earned a total of N367,498,554m.

June opened with N161,132,714m but closed with N100,663,647m, leading to a total earning of N576,322,779m.
In July, the highest-grossing film for the period was ‘Bling Lagosians’. The film grossed the highest income in cinemas in June. In the first week of July, the movie earned N37.4m. For the last weekend in August, ‘Bling Lagosians’ settled at number 20 with ‘Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’ struggling at number 19. ‘The Set Up’ had dropped to number 5.

Cumulatively, the cinemas earned over N3bn in the first half of 2019 and over N1.2 bn in July and August of the year.

In September, ‘Angel Has Fallen’ topped the box office with a gross of N40,434,564m. It was followed by ‘Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw’ and Nollywood film, ‘The Millions’ which debuted at number 3, raking in N10,046,476m. ‘Angel Has Fallen’ remained on top for the 2nd week with ‘Hustlers’ debuting at number one for the 3rd week. By the end of the month, cinema earnings had dropped by 13% with ‘Rambo: Last Blood’ at number one.

In October, ‘Love is War’ started strong with N14,228,280m in its first week. ‘Fast and Furious: Hobbs and Shaw’ sank to bottom in its 10th week. The same was the case for ‘The Lion King’ which was in its 12th week. However, ‘Joker’ snagged the number one spot by the 2nd week of October grossing N83,703,650m that week.

By the 3rd week, ‘Gemini Man’ pushed ‘Joker’ to 2nd place and Nollywood’s ‘Elevator Baby’ debuted at number 3. By the final week, the top 4 films were ‘Maleficent’, ‘Black and Blue’, ‘Gemini Man’ and ‘Joker’ in that order with ‘Elevator Baby’ at number 6. Total gross was N88, 063, 047m.

November opened with ‘Terminator: The Dark Fate’ on top raking in N37,267,747m. ‘Maleficent’, now in its 3rd week, earned N18,459,252m in 2nd place. Nollywood was in 6th place with ‘Elevator Baby’ which made N4,298,150m and ‘Living in Bondage: Breaking Free’ debuted in its first weekend at number 7.

In the 2nd week, ‘Living in Bondage’ sat on top in its first full week and made N48,692,825m, pushing ‘Terminator’ to 2nd place. ‘Elevator Baby’ dropped to number 8 and the week closed at N114,331,989m. ‘Living in Bondage’ continued its winning streak and suffered only 7% decrease but was pushed to 2nd place by the end of the month by ’21 Bridges’. ‘The Ghost and the House of Truth’ debuted at 7th place.

December opened with ‘Living in Bondage’ redeeming its number one spot, followed by ’21 Bridges’ and ‘Frozen 2’. Total gross for the week was N85,863,384m which was a 100% increase. By the 3rd week, there was another 44% increase with ‘Jumanji’ debuting and making N58,131,872m and ‘Your Excellency’ grossed N36,652,637m.

The last week saw a 110% increase with ‘Merry Men 2’ pulling in N94,241,491m in its first week. ‘Sugar Rush’ debuted and made N92,585,385m. For the last quarter of 2019, cinemas made N326, 503, 084 million in September, N342, 795, 751 million in October, N960, 234, 641 million in November and N1, 023, 321, 652 billion in December.

SOURCE: https://lifestyle.thecable.ng/nigerians-spent-n7bn-in-cinemas-in-2019/

Chess masters feared that computer programs would suck the artistry out of the game, but the company’s AlphaZero plays with soul.

TACTICS VS STRATEGY
In the world of professional snooker — a game similar to pool — there is confusion about the word “tactic.” Loosely put, there are two kinds of shots in snooker. There are attempts to pocket balls and score points, and there are safety shots where the goal is to make things more difficult for your opponent. A frame of snooker can descend into a protracted exchange of safety play — not particularly compelling to the casual observer — with neither player attempting to pocket balls. Such frames are described as “tactical.” This is wrong. The proper word would be “strategic.”

The world of professional chess has it right, and the difference between tactics and strategy in chess was once elegantly described by Austrian-born grandmaster Savielly Tartakower: “Tactics is what you do when there is something to do; strategy is what you do when there is nothing to do.”

This difference is crucial to understanding — or rather, appreciating — a recent eruption of enthusiasm in the chess world. Last year a computer program called AlphaZero was pitted against another program called Stockfish 8, and in technical terms, AlphaZero ate Stockfish 8’s lunch. The story of the match has a lot to say about computers, people, intelligence, the future — and perhaps surprisingly, beauty, and art.

BEAUTY IN TACTICS
What is beauty in chess? Let me try to explain, at least to the extent that I came to understand it while writing my first book, The Chess Artist. Most simply put, there are the laws of chess — the rules of the game — and there are the principles that dictate good play. Beauty tends to result when a player violates a principle of good play and wins anyway. This can inspire in chess players the sudden flush of awe and joy that is typically associated with the appreciation of beauty and art.

Consider the chess knight. With its L-shaped move, a knight that sits in the middle of the chess board controls or attacks 8 other squares. By contrast, a knight that sits in a corner of the board attacks only 2 other squares. Hence, objectively speaking, a knight in the middle of the board is 4 times more influential than a knight in a corner.

Thus, Polish grandmaster Siegbert Tarrasch’s principle of good play: A knight on the rim is dim. But if you do move your knight to a corner of the board, and you win because of that move — well, this is the kind of thing that can inspire in chess players the sudden flush of awe and joy that is typically associated with the appreciation of beauty and art.

ARTIFICIAL VS HUMAN INTELLIGENCE
A few years ago, the A.I. company DeepMind set out to use games to hack human intelligence. They thought that if they could invent a better computing system, one that taught itself how to do things without human bias or preconceptions, they could “solve intelligence and then use it to solve a lot of other things.” First the Asian game Go, and then chess, became laboratories for experiments aimed at broader applications.

DeepMind devised a program that bested the world’s top Go player, South Korean Lee Sedol, in 2016. Next up was chess — though not against human players. Rather, the goal now was to beat the world’s top computer programs or “chess engines,” which had been evolving for decades.

To understand what came next, we need to back up to history — and to strategy and tactics. It’s not a hard and fast rule, but it’s generally held that tactical chess play — the exchanges of pieces, “gambits” or sacrifices, mating attacks and “king hunts” — is more fun, both for players and observers. Aesthetically pleasing, is how chess players put it. Strategic play, by contrast, in which theoretical advantages become decisive over a period of 30 or 40 moves, can look like a whole lotta nothing. Historically, players of this style — Cuban world champion José Raúl Capablanca, and Russian world champion Mikhail Botvinnik — have been described, in a not laudatory way, as cold, mechanical, machine-like.

Here’s where it gets weird. Because it turned out that strategic play was more human than tactical play, after all.

Or that’s how it seemed. When chess engines began to evolve, it was assumed that tactics were creative and intuitive. A cold, mechanical machine might be able to strategize a decent game, but it could never compete with a human player who could bring to bear a more profound level of tactical creativity and ingenuity. When chess engines finally achieved enough brute force computing power, however, it was revealed that tactics were actually pretty simple. If you could calculate deep enough into a position, you could easily “see” whatever nifty tactical opportunities might be hiding there. Tactics were hardly creative at all, in fact. For a time — not very long, it turned out — human players managed to remain competitive with chess engines because, thinking strategically, they could sometimes intuit their way deeper into a position than the engine could calculate.

In essence, chess engines were perfect versions of human players. Every human player. Like Deep Blue, which beat the Russian world champion, Garry Kasparov, in 1997, brute force chess engines combine computing power, a comprehensive library of previously played chess games, and an encyclopedia of canonical chess wisdom (a knight on the rim is dim). The one weak spot in their armor was that a chess engine was, ultimately, a program. That is, if there were flaws or mistaken assumptions in the understanding of chess that came from the humans who wrote its code, then the engine shared those flaws and assumptions.

In any event, chess engines soon had little trouble beating the world’s top grandmasters. Not only that, the games that the engines played — against people or other engines — struck most observers as cold and mechanical. Tactics were easy to refute, so the games turned strategic and dull. The chess world worried that their centuries-old game had been solved. “Not human-playable” became a term used to describe positions so far beyond understanding, all you could do was shrug. It looked like the game was dead.

DEEPMIND'S ALPHA ZERO PROGRAM
When DeepMind created AlphaZero, it was given absolutely no advance knowledge of chess. No history of known opening moves. No encyclopedia of chess wisdom accrued over a thousand years of human play, as Deep Blue possessed. Just the rules of the game.

In 9 hours, AlphaZero played 44 million games against itself, more than 1,000 per second, to learn how to play. Then it was pitted against Stockfish 8. Ten games were released to the public at the end of 2017, and dozens more early the next year. The world of chess has not been the same since.

The internet changed chess in countless ways, not least of which has been a rise in chess players making videos of themselves discussing chess games, talking through the moves of famous games of the past, or games played in recent tournaments. British YouTuber kingscrusher has uploaded more than 9,000 videos for his 104,000 followers; Croatian YouTuber agadmator has 500,000 followers who have viewed his videos nearly a billion times.

These and many other commentators made a host of videos analyzing the AlphaZero-Stockfish 8 games. What is most interesting about the videos is the unbridled enthusiasm that analysts have for AlphaZero’s style of play. At times, AlphaZero makes moves that leave the analysts baffled and mystified, but enthralled as well. They react as if they have stepped into the presence of the work of an artist who represents a breakthrough, a leap forward.

The most exciting thing was that AlphaZero played tactically. It sacrificed pawns and pieces. It moved bishops and queens to the corner of the board. It risked its king in ways no human player would ever consider. This meant a couple things. First, the chess world had been wrong again — this time about having been wrong the first time around. Tactical play really was the best way to approach chess. Second, the principles of good play that had been worked out over a millennium were far from complete — or, put another way, AlphaZero demonstrated that principles regarded as rock-solid could be beautifully defied.

NEW LEASE OF LIFE
Chess was not dead. It was not dead for the same reason that periodic claims in the literary world about the novel being dead are always wrong. Even though human beings had been unable to calculate all the intricacies of chess, they had somehow known the best way to play. They just needed a chess engine to prove that their intuition, their gut — their muse — had been right all along.

Without doubt, the greatest chess player among artists was Marcel Duchamp. Duchamp famously gave up art for a career in chess. An art exhibition he organized in 1944, The Imagery of Chess — featuring work by Alexander Calder, Man Ray, Robert Motherwell, Yves Tanguy, Dorothea Tanning, and many others — ensured that there would forever be a link between the worlds of chess and art.

This isn’t what was supposed to happen. When DeepMind set out on its quest to crack intelligence with games, it wasn’t thinking about art and beauty — it was thinking about value. Value in health care, energy, macroeconomics, education, robotics. By contrast, Duchamp gave up art for chess precisely because chess didn’t have any value. “Chess has no social purpose,” he said. “That, above all, is important.”

What’s being missed right now in the revolution of machine learning is that the AlphaZero-Stockfish 8 match represents the first time in history that a machine has created something that even experts appreciated not for its value, but for its beauty. Maybe that’s a cause for hope. Maybe we don’t need to fear the Skynet Armageddon or the death of treasured media. Most beauty in the universe is not human-made, and a striking sunset is no less striking for the fact that it appeared without the help of any intelligence at all.

SOURCE: https://onezero.medium.com/how-a-i-put-the-humanity-back-in-chess-401a3f38d207

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Aliko Dangote, President of Dangote Industries and Africa’s richest man, has outlined steps that need to be taken to be a successful businessman in Nigeria or elsewhere. In an interview with Bloomberg, the business mogul disclosed that being familiar with every business he invested in and intensifying his efforts towards their growth resulted to the success he is known for today.

1. UNDERSTAND THE BUSINESS
“I think the most important one, number one, if you are going into any business, you must understand the business from A to Z. You must know that business; you shouldn’t just invest because somebody says you know there’s money in cement then you go and jump into cement.

“You need to understand the business in and out, and that’s the difference with me. I know my business in and out. You can wake me up anytime and ask me about fertilizer, anything that we are doing.

2. BE DILIGENT & FOCUSED
“The other one is to work very hard. You need to have the tenacity or continuity. You will have some hiccups here and there, but you have to be focus on what you are doing.” He added that one of his principles is being a calm manager, “I’m very quiet and I’m very calm. I get upset sometimes when people try to outsmart me. I don’t like people who will not tell me the truth. I always like people to look at me and tell me the truth.”

On opportunities for foreigners in Africa, while Dangote is the richest man in Africa with investment in several key sectors, he believes there are still growth opportunities for foreigners to invest in Africa. “There are good opportunities for everybody. And I think there’s quotation for everybody. As we speak today, let me give you an example, in Nigeria, if I have a partnership with you that I’m investing, I won’t have what you call minimum taxation.

“But if the company is owned by myself alone, as a Nigerian owned entity, we have minimum taxation. So, there’s quite a lot in terms of inviting foreigners to come and invest in Africa. But countries I can suggest for you to invest are Nigeria, Ghana, Cote D’ Ivoire, Kenya.”

Meanwhile, Dangote also set the record straight on how he amassed his wealth after claims that his success was aided by heirloom. The richest African disclosed that he built the Dangote Group empire from scratch without inheriting any money from his father, who was one of the wealthiest Nigerians before his demise.

Contrary to the public perception that his wealth came from his wealthy lineage, as his late great-grandfather, late grandfather, and father were among the richest individuals in Nigeria and West Africa at their time, the business mogul made it without such help

Journey to being a billionaire: He said he became a cement trader in his early twenties without the inheritance. “I came from a wealthy family. My late great-grandfather was actually the richest in the 1940s in West Africa. My late grandfather was one of the wealthiest Nigerians. The family name was Dantata; that’s from my maternal side.

“My father was also rich, but he was in business and also in politics. But one thing that I am very proud of is that I didn’t inherit any money from my father. I built everything from scratch to where I am,” he told David Leisteiner of Bloomberg.

Gave inheritance to charity: Dangote’s father died when he was 8 years old. When asked if his father didn’t leave anything in his will for him, he said, “Well, he left in the will, but you know, whatever that I inherited from him in asset, I gave that to charity since then.”

However, his business growth and success as a businessman has eclipsed his father’s achievement ever since.

The 62-year-old Nigerian businessman, Africa’s richest and most prominent industrialist ended the decade with a net worth of almost $15 billion, making him join the league of wealthiest men in the world (96th). Dangote added $4.3 billion to his fortunes by the end of 2019, as his investments in cement, flour and sugar grew further.

HOW DANGOTE SPENDS HIS EXCESS CASH
What does Dangote do with the wealth he doesn’t use for business? Well, unlike some billionaires who spend their extra cash to collect valuables like arts and cars, Dangote said cash like that goes into charity.

“I’m not really a collector of art. Anytime I have excess money, I like to put more in terms of charity. I don’t really have a very expensive lifestyle,” he said while admitting that his greatest pleasure in life is building his company and giving away extra money.

SOURCE (abridged): https://nairametrics.com/2020/01/10/dangote-reveals-guide-to-being-successful-businessman/