₦airaland Forum

The Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON) yesterday said it has exhausted all avenues of peaceful resolution on the debt allegedly owed the corporation by the promoter of The Hardley Apartments and former captain of the Nigeria Super Eagles, Nwankwo Kanu.

In a statement released yesterday, AMCON said it had in 2015, obtained an order from the Federal High Court, which gave the corporation permission to take possession of The Hardley Apartments located at No. 46 Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, Off Elsie Femi – Pearse Crescent, Off Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island in Lagos State. This order still subsists, pending the determination of the substantive matter

It said: “AMCON is not in the habit of joining issues with obligors on the pages of the newspapers especially when the matter is in court as in this one. However, as a law abiding recovery agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, we are at all times guided within the confines of the law and would continue to act accordingly”.

The corporation said reports on the debt are brazen falsehood meant to mislead the public on the true position of the debt to the corporation”.

“We also want to put on record that having exhausted all avenues of peaceful resolution as a result of the huge debt, AMCON in 2015 obtained an order from the Federal High Court, which gave the Corporation permission to take possession of The Hardley Apartments located at No. 46 Waziri Ibrahim Crescent, Off Elsie Femi – Pearse Crescent, Off Adeola Odeku Street, Victoria Island in Lagos State. This order still subsists, pending the determination of the substantive matter”.

The public should therefore please disregard these misrepresentations as we await the pronouncement of the court on the matter.

http://investorsking.com/amcon-court-kanu-debt/

Less than two weeks after the World Bank projected Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow by 2.5 per cent in 2018, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday projected a lower growth outlook for the country.

According to the Fund’s World Economic Outlook (WEO) for 2018 titled: “Brighter Prospects, Optimistic Markets, Challenges Ahead,” Nigeria’s GDP would grow at 2.1 per cent in 2018. It also projected a lower economic growth of 1.9 per cent for the country in 2019.

The IMF explained: “The growth pickup in Sub-Saharan Africa (from 2.7 percent in 2017 to 3.3 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019) is broadly as anticipated in the fall, with a modest upgrade to the growth forecast for Nigeria but more subdued growth prospects in South Africa, where growth is now expected to remain below 1 percent in 2018–19, as increased political uncertainty weighs on confidence and investment.”

Also, the IMF stated that fiscal policy was generally constrained by the need to gradually rebuild buffers, especially in commodity-dependent emerging market and developing economies. With the recent respite provided by the cyclical rebound in commodity prices, it urged policymakers to guard against the temptation to defer reforms and budgetary adjustments for later.

“The policy challenges for low-income countries are particularly complex, as they involve multiple, sometimes conflicting goals. These include supporting near-term activity; diversifying their economies and lifting potential output to maintain progress toward their Sustainable Development Goals; building buffers to enhance resilience, especially in commodity-dependent economies grappling with a subdued outlook,” it stated.

The IMF also revised its forecast for the world economy’s growth in both 2018 and 2019 to 3.9 per cent.

For both years, that was 0.2 percentage points higher than its last October’s forecast, and 0.2 percentage points higher than its current estimate of last year’s global growth.

According to the Economic Counsellor and Research Department Director, at the IMF,

Maurice Obstfeld, political leaders and policymakers must stay mindful that the present economic momentum reflects a confluence of factors that is unlikely to last for long.

“The global financial crisis may seem firmly behind us, but without prompt action to address structural growth impediments, enhance the inclusiveness of growth, and build policy buffers and resilience, the next downturn will come sooner and be harder to fight.

“Every government should be asking itself three questions today. First, how can we raise economic efficiency and output levels over the longer term? Second, how can we support resilience and inclusiveness while reducing the likelihood that the current upswing ends in an abrupt slowdown or even a new crisis?

“Third, how can we be sure to have the policy tools we will need to counter the next downturn?” Obstfeld added.

http://investorsking.com/imf-forecasts-2-1-growth-nigeria-2018/

The Nigerian equities market has continued to record an unprecedented rally since the beginning of the week, lifting the market capitalisation to an all-time high of N15.317 trillion yesterday. The market, which had recovered from a three-year decline to gain 42.3 per cent in 2017, has remained bullish contrary to expectation of profit taking.

By the close of trading yesterday the Nigerian Stock Exchange(NSE) All-Share Index (NSE ASI) has jumped by 8.1 per cent in four days to close at 42,041.54, while market capitalisation added N1.467 trillion to hit a record N15.317 trillion.

Specifically, the ASI appreciated by 2.93 per cent yesterday as bellwether stocks such as FBN Holdings, UBA, Zenith Bank, Dangote Cement, and Nigerian Breweries rallied.

A total of 56 stocks added value, while 10 depreciated. Honeywell Flour Mills Plc led the led the gainers’ chart, rising by 9.97 per cent. It was trailed by Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc with 9.96 per cent, while Champion Breweries Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc and Wema Bank Plc garnered 9.92 per cent, 9.92 per cent and 9.6 per cent in that order.

Conversely, University Press Plc led the price losers with 4.7 per cent, trailed by Meyer Plc with 4.4 per cent. Learn Africa Plc, NEM Insurance Plc and Berger Paints Nigeria Plc shed 4.0 per cent, 3.1 per cent and 2.6 per cent respectively.

Also, volume of trading appreciated as investors traded 1.162 billion shares worth N17.375 billion, up from 1.089 billion shares valued at N13.296 billion the previous day.

The three most actively traded stocks were Transcorp (208.77 million shares), Diamond Bank (149.70 million shares) and Zenith Bank (129.43 million shares).

Performance across sectors was bullish as all indices closed in the green. The NSE Banking Index was the top performer, rising 4.4 per cent on the back of buying interest across board.

The NSE Industrial Goods Index trailed with 3.3 per cent growth, while the NSE Consumer Goods Index rose 2.3 per cent.

The NSE Oil & Gas Index went up by 2.7 per cent, while the NSE Insurance Index ended 1.7 per cent higher.

Commenting on the market performance, analysts at FSDH said:The market rally continued against expectations. Sector performances were mostly bullish, as all sectorial indices closed positive. There may be profit taking in the market in the next few trading sessions.”

Similarly, analysts at Cordros Capital said: We expect stocks to rally further, driven by still-positive market fundamentals and improving macroeconomic outlook.”

http://investorsking.com/equities-market-capitalisation-hits-record-n15trn-continuing-rally/

Amoto94:
OP this is closer to the truth as we can see from the surge in stock market performance in recent months. The confidence level is improving and this bodes well for the overall economic growth of the country but this growth is hinged on stability in the oil price and peace in the Niger Delta region.

God bless men of goodwill.

Yea, but I think we will do slightly above that in 2018. However, my concern is the poor new job creation, 18.8 percent unemployment rate is too high. Fg needs to knock-off the high-interest rate to discourage fixed income investment, since we are now generating enough to service the economy and inflation rate is not even demand pull. This will encourage broad local participation and enhance new job creation against the current growing Money Market investment and several local businesses being acquired by foreigners.

The World Bank forecast Nigeria’s economy to expand at 2.5 percent in 2018, citing improved commodity prices, trade and investment amid growing economic activity.

In the January 2018 Global Economic Prospect report released by the bank on Tuesday in Washington, DC, Nigeria’s economy is expected to expand by 2.8 percent in 2019 and 2020. While global economy was projected to expand at 3.1 percent in 2018.

According to the report, Sub-Saharan Africa will continue to grow at 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.5 percent in 2019. Also, on the back of better commodity prices and rising domestic demand. However, growth is expected to remain below pre-crisis level, partly due to weak investment in larger economies.

“South Africa is forecast to tick up to 1.1 percent growth in 2018 from 0.8 percent in 2017. The recovery is expected to solidify, as improving business sentiment supports a modest rise in investment.

“However, policy uncertainty was likely to remain and could slow needed structural reforms.

“Nigeria is anticipated to accelerate to a 2.5 percent rate this year from one percent growth in the year just ended. An upward revision to Nigeria’s forecast is based on expectation that oil production will continue to recover and that reforms will lift non-oil sector growth.

“Growth in Angola is expected to increase to 1.6 percent in 2018, as a successful political transition improves the possibility of reforms that ameliorate the business environment,” it stated.

While Côte d’Ivoire is expected to grow at 7.2 percent in 2018, Senegal by 6.9 percent; Ethiopia by 8.2 percent, Tanzania by 6.8 percent, and Kenya by 5.5 percent as inflation eases.

The bank, however, said economic growth in the region could be impacted by external and local risks as growth in the region remains fragile.

http://investorsking.com/nigeria-to-grow-by-2-5-in-2018-world-bank/

The Central Bank of Nigeria’s Investors and Exporters foreign exchange window recorded approximately $26bn transactions in 2017, the FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange data revealed on Monday.

The FX window was established by the CBN in April 2017 on the aftermath of the foreign exchange crisis that hit the country following the 2014 global crash in the prices of crude oil, Nigeria’s main foreign exchange earner, and the exit of foreign portfolio investors from the country.

Specifically, the total turnover of trading on the I&E window hit $25.64bn in December 2017, approximately nine months after the window was established.

The FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange data revealed that $0.61bn turnover was recorded in April while $1.32bn was recorded in May.

Turnovers in June, July and August last year were $1.63bn, $1.86bn, $3.54bn, respectively.

In September, it increased to $4.61bn, while $4.3bn was recorded in October.

The total turnover trade on the I&E FX window in November and December were $4.51bn and $3.27bn, respectively.

The window was meant to boost supply of foreign exchange into the nation’s economy, attract more investments and stabilise the foreign exchange market.

The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, had in October said the investors’ window recorded $10bn inflow into Nigeria during the first six months of its creation.

He said the window had helped the country to achieve exchange rate stability and convergence.

http://investorsking.com/trading-cbn-investors-exporters-fx-window-hits-26bn/

Rising global oil prices boosted Nigeria’s foreign reserves in January 2018, the reserves which rose by 50 percent in 2017 from $23.6 billion low of October 2016, jumped to $38.8 billion in 2017.

According to the new Central Bank of Nigeria’s statement released on Monday, foreign reserves increased further in January, rising to $40.4 billion. The highest level since January 2014.

The foreign reserves which had hit $62 billion in September 2008 before $12 billion was used to settle external debts, was projected by the CBN Governor Mr. Godwin Emefiele at the Annual Bankers’ Dinner of the Chartered Institute of Bankers in November to hit $40 billion mark before the end of 2018. However, that was achieved two months later.

According to the data, the foreign reserves gained $12.9 billion between December 2016 and December 2017, with more than $1 billion from later part of December 2017 and January 2018.

Experts believe rising foreign reserves and expanding manufacturing sector will further deepen business confidence and strengthens job creation in the nation.

But the rebound in economic growth and increasing forex intervention are yet to translate to broad job creation since the economy rebounded from financial crisis in the second quarter of 2017, as over 4 million Nigerians reportedly lost their jobs in 2017 with unemployment rate advancing to 18.8 percent from 14.2 percent in 2016 and youth unemployment/underemployment increasing from 47 percent to 52.65 percent of the working population, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Therefore, in order to encourage job creation, the monetary policy committee needs to lower interest rate from 14 percent to discourage the rush for fixed income investment and encourage broad participation in real economic growth both in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors.

“The tax holiday is a fiscal stimulus but needs to be combined with an effective monetary policy in order to compensate for revenue shortfall with economic growth,” said Samed Olukoya, a foreign exchange research analyst at Investors King Ltd.

http://investorsking.com/foreign-reserves-rise-4-year-high-january/ mynd44

A number of Deposit Money Banks in the country have barred their customers from using debit and credit cards to withdraw dollars, euros, pounds and other foreign currencies whenever they travel abroad, investigation by our correspondent has revealed.

The development may put business and leisure travellers, who may need hard currencies to meet some obligations abroad, in a difficult situation.

Also, students who are studying abroad and often rely on withdrawing hard currencies with their Nigerian payment cards from Automatic Teller Machines abroad to meet certain needs may find the situation challenging.

Findings by our correspondent revealed that the naira volatility of the past year made many of the Nigerian banks to get their fingers burnt and the fear of losing heavily to possible future currency volatility was making them to exercise restraint in reactivating overseas ATM withdrawal services for their customers.

However, some banks, which are said to be having high risk appetite and some with partner banks overseas to make settlements easier, are having a smooth ride and as such, have reactivated the ATM withdrawal service overseas.

A top banker close to the development, who spoke to our correspondent under the condition of anonymity said, “Each bank has various reasons for not yet activating their overseas ATM cash withdrawal service. For some banks, they ran into losses last year when the naira fell and, as such, they are trying to minimise their risks now.

“For such banks, there is no plan to reactivate it. Some others banks are not ready to reactivate the service because they are trying to check customers who are doing round-tripping. It is for various reasons that the banks are not stopping yet.”

Findings by our correspondent revealed that while almost all the banks allowed customers to use their payment cards to do Point of Sale and web transactions overseas, a number of them had suspended their ATM cash withdrawals without indicating when they would resume.

It was gathered that Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Fidelity Bank Plc, Stanbic IBTC Bank and Standard Chartered Bank Nigeria were among the lenders that had suspended their ATM cash withdrawal services.

When our correspondent put a call through to their customer service centres, the banks confirmed they had suspended the services without stating the reason and possible resumption plans.

The customer service personnel, however, said the PoS service abroad and Web services were available for customers to use.

Some bankers told our correspondent that in terms of volume, Nigerian banks were spending more in overseas settlements from PoS and Web than in ATM cash withdrawal.

They said the fear of money laundering by customers was a major reason why some banks had to stop ATM cash withdrawal overseas.

They also stated that for some banks, the settlement issues they had when the dollar was scarce last year was making them to limit their card usage abroad to only PoS and Web transactions.

Following the crash in global oil prices, the drop in Nigeria’s foreign exchange revenue and the resultant dollar scarcity that hit the economy had made the local banks to suspend the ATM cash withdrawal and the PoS services abroad. They also stopped web transactions.

However, following the improvement in forex supply early this year, some banks announced the resumption of the services.

Some of the banks that have resumed full services in these area include United Bank for Africa Plc and First Bank of Nigeria Limited. Similarly, Zenith Bank Plc, Ecobank Nigeria and Skye Bank Plc have announced that their customers can do the ATM cash withdrawal, the PoS and web transactions.

But some of the banks, which have yet to resume full services, claimed that the regulator was not giving them approval to do so.

http://investorsking.com/nigerian-banks-stop-atm-cash-withdrawal-abroad/

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg on Thursday expressed his interest in cryptocurrency technology and its potential usage in strengthening Facebook services going forward.

In the 2018 mission statement, Zuckerberg emphasized the limitation of centralized technologies, while at the same time highlighting the danger of unregulated decentralized technologies.

“With the rise of a small number of big tech companies — and governments using technology to watch their citizens — many people now believe technology only centralizes power rather than decentralizes it,” he stated.

“There are important counter-trends to this –like encryption and cryptocurrency — that take power from centralized systems and put it back into people’s hands. But they come with the risk of being harder to control. I’m interested to go deeper and study the positive and negative aspects of these technologies, and how best to use them in our services.”

While Zuckerberg mentioned blockchain as an example of technology that decentralizes power, the concept, if materialized could also help Facebook catch up with Asian messaging competitors on mobile payment solution.

For instance, Alipay and WeChat Pay control an estimated 92 percent of the 500 million mobile payment users in China, while beggars in some Chinese cities are already accepting mobile payments to their accounts using QR codes.

With cash becoming obsolete and Facebook payment struggling to fully kick off, this could help the social media giant capitalize on growing blockchain technology to further its reach in developed nations with an estimated 556 million mobile payment users.

Mark Højgaard, the CEO and co-founder of Coinify, a tech company helping businesses accept payments via crypto, said: “It definitely makes sense for Facebook users globally to send some kind of token to each other. This could be currency or something else like points that you can redeem them for things within the Facebook ecosystem, like premium content.”

The social media giant at F8 developer conference said it plans to expand its mobile payment solution to include bill payments and investing options, something WeChat Pay and Alipay have been offering for years.

http://investorsking.com/mark-zuckerberg-study-cryptocurrency-technology/

The Nigeria Customs Service has announced that five days to the end of 2017, it generated additional N25bn to bring its total revenue generated for the year to N1.37tn.

The service had announced earlier that it generated a total of N1.12tn between January and December 26.

While briefing journalists in Lagos on Thursday about the activities of the service in 2017, the Public Relations Officer, NCS, Mr. Joseph Attah, stated that the revenue was made possible through the strict deployment of the digital identification method, which enabled officers to identify consignments such as vehicles, using the mandatory Vehicle Identification Number.

He said that declarations on vessels increased significantly in 2017 due to the use of digital application to locate vessels on Nigerian waters and request for payment of appropriate duties as data of the vessels were available on the digital platform.

According to him, the service generated this revenue against the backdrop of several challenges, including the ban on 41 items of import from access to foreign exchange.

“For instance, rice which raked in N56.8bn in 2014, contributed only N265m to the Customs revenue in 2017,” he said.

Attah pointed out that the enforcement of fiscal policies in 2017 led to a decrease in the average duty rate from 12.54 to 11.1 in line with the lowering of duty rates for national projects in the agriculture and the automotive sectors.

The service, according to him, also battled paucity of funds, as the National Assembly reportedly refused to pass the NCS budget for the past owing to the faceoff between the Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (retd.) and the Senate over his refusal to wear the Customs uniform.

Attah said the service had been operating with intervention funds from the government.

Another challenge faced by officers was attacks and sabotage from smugglers which led to the death of six officers, according to the Customs PRO.

Giving further details of the activities of the NCS in the year under review, Attah said the service recorded 4,492 seizures amounting to N12.7bn.

He stated that the seizures included 2,671 pump action riffles, dangerous/illicit drugs, vehicles, rice and others, adding that 207 suspects were arrested in connection with the seizures and were currently undergoing trial in court.

Five officers of the NCS were also dismissed in connection with the 661 pump action rifles intercepted in January 2017.

The five Customs officers, he noted, were handed over to the authorities and were undergoing prosecution.

On what happened to the seized items, the NCS PRO said the food items had been distributed to the Internally Displaced Persons camps in Edo, Borno, Adamawa and Yobe in line with a 2016 presidential directive.

He gave the breakdown of the items distributed to the IDP camps as 421 trailers of rice (252,666 bags) worth N3.8bn; and 82,140 of 25-litre gallons of vegetable oil worth N985.6m, among others.

Attah stated, “Despite tonnes of rice and other relief items already transferred to the IDP camps, NCS warehouses across the country are still filled with rice. This only shows that the sustained onslaught against unrepentant rice smugglers continues to yield positive results.

“The ones in the warehouses now are either awaiting court condemnation/forfeiture to the Federal Government or have been already allocated to governments of the affected states who pay the Army Corps of Transport and Logistics for their transportation to the IDP camps.”

He added that the service also auctioned 646 cars and generated N272.1m in revenue from the use of the e-auction portal.

http://investorsking.com/customs-2017-revenue-rises-to-n1-37tn/ mynd44

The House of Representatives is to conduct a status inquiry into the over N7.97tn revenue generated by the Federal Government’s health institutions and allegedly spent without appropriation by the National Assembly.

A motion on the matter is due to be taken as soon as lawmakers reconvene on January 16 after their Christmas and New Year break.

Findings indicated that the House would do a referral on the motion to an ad hoc committee after a resolution on the probe would have been passed.

The motion, which is sponsored by a member from Plateau State, Solomon Bulus-Maren, is seeking an inquiry to cover 2011 to 2017.

Checks revealed that it was initially slated for debate on December 21, but later deferred to January when members would have resumed for the New Year.

The federal health institutions to be covered by the inquiry include federal medical centres, university teaching hospitals and specialist hospitals.

The agencies are said to generate revenues internally, better known as IGR, and are expected to remit same to the Federation Account.

A copy of the motion sighted on Wednesday, indicated that the institutions also get yearly budgetary allocations for their operations, including funds for the payment of salaries.

However, over the years, the institutions reportedly collected N7.97tn IGR and remitted about N200bn to the Federal Account.

The motion states, “The House notes that the Federal Government has more than 70 tertiary health institutions, including university teaching hospitals, federal medical centres and specialist hospitals spread across the country.

“The House also notes that between 2011 and 2017, there had been budgetary allocations ranging from N100m to over N11bn to all university teaching hospitals, FMCs and other tertiary health institutions across the country, amounting to over N4.5tn.

“Further notes that those allocations cover recurrent, overheads and capital expenditure (including procurement of drugs, hospital equipment and furniture) for the purpose of providing quality health care delivery for Nigerians and foreigners within the country.

“The House is concerned that in spite of the huge annual budgetary allocations, the non-availability of medical consumables and/or non-functional or outdated medical equipment in most of those health institutions, lack of proper handling and treatment of ailments, have led to some Nigerians seeking medical treatment abroad, thereby adversely affecting the nation’s economy, especially in the areas of transfer of technology and capital flight.”

The motion adds, “The House is aware that those tertiary health institutions, being public institutions for health care delivery, also serve as revenue generating agencies of government by providing medical, surgical, radiological, pathological, laboratory, haematological consultancy and ambulance services, respectively and such other services related to health issues in exchange for financial payments.

“The House is also aware that the funds generated in the last 18 years, which were estimated at over N7.97tn and were expected to have been paid into the Federation Account, were disbursed without authorisation.

“The House is further aware that those institutions have collectively remitted less than N200bn to the federation account during the years under review.

“The House is informed that there are lots of leakages and high-level of secrecy surrounding the revenues generated and remittances to the federation account through misapplication, misappropriation and diversion at those facilities.

“The House realises that if those internally generated revenues were remitted to the federation account, the funds would have gone a long way in increasing the allocations to the health sector to at least 15 per cent budgetary requirements as stipulated by the World Health Organisation and by extension, improve the quality of health care delivery in the country.

“The House believes that unless steps are taken to address those anomalies, the tertiary health institutions and the entire health care system in the country may collapse.”

http://investorsking.com/reps-to-probe-federal-hospitals-others-over-unremitted-n7-9tn-igr/

A total of 161,285.72 metric tonnes of agricultural products were exported through Tin Can Island Port in 2017, representing over 150 per cent increase from the 55,000 metric tonnes processed through the port in 2016.

The Area Controller, Nigeria Customs Service, Tin Can Island Port Command, Yusuf Bashar, who disclosed this, said that cocoa topped the list of commodities exported through the port last year.

Bashar listed other exported commodities to include pepper, soybean, rubber, milk, frozen shrimps, hibiscus flowers and ginger, among others.

According to him, cocoa bean, which was the highest exported agricultural product through the port last year, recorded 33,294 metric tonnes followed by sesame seed and rubber, which recorded 15,189.78 and 15,072.84 metric tonnes, respectively.

The Deputy Controller of Customs in charge of Exports, Audu Ochuma, attributed the feat to increased participation in agricultural activities, adding that exportation required more meticulousness than importation.

Ochuma expressed optimism that the volume of Nigerian export of agricultural products would increase in 2018 because of the various incentives and encouragement from the Federal Government.

He said, “Over 5,000 duty-free commodities and items can be exported to the United States of America under the African Growth and Opportunity Act.

“A United States embassy official had advised us at a function that Nigeria should concentrate on agricultural products and other specific areas outside technology, as we have a better advantage with the former than the latter.

“For instance, if we pursue exporting made-in-Nigeria radio, television and other household electronics, the tendencies are that we won’t meet the standards required by the advanced countries for now. So it’s better we focus more on areas where we are better off than them.”

Under the Economic Community of West African States’ Trade Liberalisation Scheme, Ochuma said Nigeria had been exporting alcoholic beverages, milk and other finished products to neighbouring countries, taking advantage of the zero duty regime.

He added that Nigeria stood a chance to benefit more from other African countries like South Africa that made over $300m from exports to the US alone.

http://investorsking.com/tin-can-records-150-increase-agro-exports/

Nigeria spent a total of $197.29m to service foreign debts in the third quarter of this year, the Debt Management Office said on Wednesday.

Statistics obtained from the DMO in Abuja showed that multilateral sources accounted for 30 per cent of the country’s debt servicing commitment in the third quarter of the year.

The multilateral sources include two arms of the World Bank, the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the International Development Association.

Others are the African Development Bank Group, the Islamic Development Bank, Africa Growing Together Fund, International Fund for Agricultural Development, Arab Bank for Economic Development and the Energy Development Fund.

Bilateral loans, on the other hand, accounted for 17 per cent of the country’s external loan servicing commitment in the third quarter of the year.

Chief among the bilateral sources is the Export Import Bank of China. Others are the French Development Agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency, Exim Bank of India and Germany’s KFW Development Bank.

According to the DMO, bilateral loans for which Nigeria is making servicing payment include the loans for the Nigeria Communication Satellite, Nigeria National Public Security Communications System, Nigeria Railway Modernisation Project, Abuja Light Rail Project, Nigeria ICT Infrastructure Backbone Project, four airport terminals expansion project and the Zungeru hydroelectric project.

Commercial loans or Eurobonds, on the other hand, accounted for the highest foreign debt payment as it gulped 53 per cent of the country’s external loan commitment within the three-month period.

Nigeria had in recent times obtained four Eurobonds funding with maturity dates ranging from 2018 to 2032.

In comparative terms, the nation’s debt servicing commitment in the third quarter of the year was $139.05m higher than the $58.24m paid to external creditors in the second quarter of the year. This showed that the third quarter payment was 238.75 per cent higher.

In the first quarter of the year, however, the country spent $127.92m to service external loans.

The Federal Government had recently made a commitment to take more external loans in order to reduce the huge debt servicing burden posed by huge domestic debt commitment.

Apart from reducing the huge debt servicing costs, the government believes that this strategy will help private sector players to get more access to the local debt market as well as provide foreign exchange to lubricate the country’s challenged forex market.

http://investorsking.com/foreign-debt-servicing-gulped-197-29m-q3-dmo/

opribo:
I keep saying it, we are the most patient people on earth albeit patient to a fault. How on earth do we explain our docility when over 4M jobs have been lost under this cancerous and evil government. Is it until we start dropping dead one by one on the streets before we can begin to hold these people accountable.

I dont give a 4ck how many times they blame former administration, they saw the mess they said they can fix it so fix it they must or get the hell away from Aso rock without further delay.

We should all be ashamed that agency like NBS will put together data yet can't succinctly interpret the same data. This interpretation is wrong and lacked common sense.

What the interpretation failed to point out is that participation rate jumped from 78.5 million in 2016 to 85.1 million in 2017. Suggesting surged in population growth rate is outpacing the rate of new job creation. A phenomenon that is not unique in a recovering economy.

Again, how did NBS arrived at 4 million job lost when its own data showed about 1.5 million full-time jobs were lost within the said period? Where is the number of part-time workers? I find it hard to believe that 4 million people lose their jobs and the economy still recovered from recession with the manufacturing sector expanding for 8 consecutive months in November. While services sector continued to grow at a healthy pace. All data put together by NBS.

The Governor, Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, has said that the Federal Government will provide cheap funds to farmers at five per cent interest rate to procure agricultural equipment so as to enhance food production.

He said this on Thursday at the launch of Ogun State’s produced MITROS rice at the agro services corporation headquarters, Asero, Abeokuta.

The CBN governor said the launching of the locally-produced Ofada and parboiled rice varieties was a pointer to the fact that the state government had keyed into the Federal Government’s agricultural revolution programme.

Emefiele, who revealed that he was part of the Presidential Task Force on Agricultural Commodities and Production (rice and wheat), that visited Ogun State about 12 months ago, said Governor Ibikunle Amosun did promise the team that it would soon return to launch the state’s own locally-produced rice.

He noted that he was happy that the governor “walked his talk,” arguing that the CBN would continue to support efforts aimed at growing the economy and providing employment.

Emefiele called on smallholder farmers to also embrace rice, cassava and other food commodities’ cultivation, stating that the next phase would be the processing.

He said, “During that visit, the governor took us round the three senatorial districts. We saw the fish ponds, we saw the poultries and we saw some rice farms. But he promised that in no distance time, he’s going to invite us and I am happy to be here today to witness this giant stride demonstrated by the rice pyramid that’s right here.

“Ogun State continues to demonstrate the urge to support the focus of the government to create jobs and to grow the economy. A country that doesn’t take agriculture seriously is naturally an unserious country.

“We are going to be looking at providing cheap funding at no more than five per cent for those who are going to be assessing facilities to acquire agric equipment like threshers, harvesters, or those who will be going into fish farming, or those who will be going into feed mills.”

The Kebbi State Governor, Abubakar Bagudu, who is the Chairman, Presidential Task Force on Commodities and Agricultural Production, said Nigeria was capable of producing 50 million tonnes of rice per annum.

According to him, all the 36 states in the country have the capability to produce rice.

Bagudu stated, “All the 36 states of Nigeria have the capability of producing rice, of course, including the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.

“With rice, I believe we can achieve what we have achieved even with a commodity like crude oil. Because around the world, about 600 million metric tonnes of rice is produced every year, and in Nigeria, we are still producing a little less than 10 million.

“Our land size estimated by the Rice Farmers Association indicated that there are about 12 million rice farmers. This suggests that even if an average yield per farmer is the modest five tonnes, we should be producing 50 million tonnes, not under 10 million tonnes that we are currently producing.”

Amosun said the Ofada rice was produced, processed and packaged in the state.

The governor, who announced that a 50kg would sell for N11,500, said the MITROS brand of rice would be available in markets and departmental stores.

Amosun added that his government would continue to partner other state governments and private partners, as the state would not only be known as an industrial hub of the country, but also the agricultural hub.

He stated that steps were being taken to restore the cultural heritage the state was known for in the production of the famous Ofada rice.

“We have established three processing mills in each senatorial district of the state in Sawonjo, Ogun West; Asero, Ogun Central; and Ijebu North East in Ogun East, to ensure easy access to processing mills by our local farmers towards promoting quality assurance of the product,” he added.

http://investorsking.com/farmers-pay-5-interest-loans-emefiele/

The $500 million is probably for few days feeding, even Pakistan gave Afghanistan $500 million to support over one trillion dollars the US has spent so far. This amount does not include donations from world bank, United Nation and other countries.

Bauchi State Government has signed a $1 billion memorandum of strategic cooperation on investment potential relating to agriculture, solid minerals and tourism as well as another MoU on the establishment of 100MW solar power project with Chinese investors.

The state Governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar, while signing the MOU at the Government House in Bauchi wednesday said China is “easily the most viable and reliable friend Nigeria has,” adding that President Muhammadu Buhari has expressed the same sentiment about China.

He said the two memoranda of strategic cooperation on investment potential was signed by the state government with the China-Africa International Cooperation Economic Preparatory Committee.

While thanking the Chinese investors for the giant strides, the state governor said with the signing of the memoranda, history is being made in the state, pointing out that “with the saturation of businesses in Lagos, Kano and Port Harcourt, the next destination to look for business opportunities is Bauchi.”

He explained that “Bauchi State is the right destination for investors with the unprecedented endowment of mineral resources,” assuring them that Bauchi is committed to the full implementation of the two memoranda.

The team under the China- Africa International Cooperation Economic Preparatory Committee would bring economic investments to Bauchi state to create a better future for the state.

The Chinese Team Leader, Mr. Liang, said the team was in Bauchi in continuation of a memorandum of understanding on investments in Nigeria signed in China by President Buhari and Chinese leaders, stressing that it is to cooperate with government to develop Bauchi into “the fastest growing state in Nigeria,” with the cooperation.

Liang said the team is in the state to invest in power, agriculture, mining, education and tourism “to improve the lives of the people of the state” and sought the support of the people of state in the execution of the projects.

The Nigerian team leader, Captain Mohammed Joji, explained that the team, which is set to invest $20 billion in Nigeria, is devoting $1 billion to Bauchi State.

Under the memorandum of understanding, the Chinese investors would provide 70 percent of the resources, while the state government provides the remaining 30 percent, the statement added.

http://investorsking.com/bauchi-signs-1bn-investments-deal-china/

The federal government thursday gave its approval to the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) between the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Company Plc (NBET) and Kingline Power Limited for the construction of its 550 megawatts (MW) Ondo open cycle independent power project (IPP).

The government approval of the project’s PPA was made known in Abuja when the NBET and Kingline signed the terms in the agreement before the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr. Babatunde Fashola.

With the final signing of the PPA by the Managing Director of NBET, Dr. Marilyn Amobi, and Chief Executive Officer of Kingline, Mr. Sean Kim, Kingline indicated that it would now move to achieve a financial closure on the project within quarter three (Q3) of 2018, and subsequently commence construction.

Amobi, in her remarks, stated that the PPA was procured within the least cost development plan of the NBET, and that it had gone through the regulatory processes as well as a review by the Bureau of Public Procurement (BPP), and legal advice, from the office of the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice.

She explained that Kingline would be expected by the government to from this, achieve a financial closure shortly and construct the plants for power generation to the grid.

Similarly, Kim noted that within the period it initiated the PPA with the NBET in 2016, it had gone on to execute an Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) with Hyundai Engineering, in addition to securing other contracts relevant to the construction of the plant within 24 months.
He also said the company has so far raised up to $150 million worth of equity for the project, and that its debt financing would be anchored by development financial institutions and export credit agencies being arranged by Standard Chartered Bank.

He stated: “We ave worked hard to keep our project financing at very competitive level. We are achieving 550 megawatts with $550 million in all project costs. That is a $1 million per megawatts and which is substantially lower than other projects. We are doing this while not sacrificing quality, that is why we are using GE turbines. What we hope to achieve is to become the reference project for Nigeria’s power sector.”

In his remarks Fashola, explained that the signing of the PPA was indication that Nigeria’s power sector was still attractive to investors across the globe.

The minister added that the participation of Ondo State in the project equally showed that state governments in the country can invest in the power sector uninhibited.

Meanwhile, the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) had disclosed that it would get about €25 million grant from the European Union (EU) to support its evaluation of solar power lPPs in the country.

TCN also stated during a routine tour of its substations in Abuja and parts of Niger State, that it was working to achieve a national peak power transmission of 6,000MW within the first parts of 2018.

A document shared by the transmission company during the tour stated that TCN had within 2017, entered into collaboration with several partners to reposition it for better service delivery.

It listed some of the partnerships it signed within this period to include the one with Agip and Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) joint venture in respect of towers 94 and 98 on Okpai-Onitsha Direct Circuit Line and provision of Geographic Information System for it.

“Collaboration with Japan government on capacitor banks in Apo and Keffi substations and the rehabilitation of Apapa, Akangba and Isolo substations. Discussions are ongoing with government of Japan to rehabilitate Ikeja West and Ota substations. EU has pledged to provide €25 million grant to support TCN on solar lPPs evaluation,” it added in the document.

The company equally noted that with its works and investments made by the government in the transmission network in 2017, it would unfair to refer to it as the weakest link in the country’s power sector, adding that it had set itself up to become one of the best electricity transmission companies around the world.

http://investorsking.com/fg-approves-ppa-550m-550mw-ondo-power-plant/

The House of Representatives, on Tuesday, raised questions over a “purported” presidential approval exempting some special Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation accounts from the Treasury Single Account.

The accounts, with funds worth N50bn, are still being kept by commercial banks in breach of the TSA policy.

The policy provides that all accounts belonging to Ministries, Departments and Agencies of government should be transferred to the TSA.

The TSA, a centralised Federal Government revenue account, is kept by the Central Bank of Nigeria.

A Nigerian firm, SystemSpecs, provides the Remita electronic platform for running the TSA, saving the Federal Government revenue that could ordinarily have been lost.

An ad hoc committee of the House, chaired by a member of the All Progressives Congress from Kano State, Mr. Abubakar Danburam-Nuhu, found out that the NNPC directed some commercial banks to keep the accounts outside the TSA.

The CBN confirmed to the committee that it was aware of the excluded accounts, pointing to a document tendered by the NNPC, indicating that there was a presidential approval.

The said approval was a memo written by the Chief Staff to the President, Mr. Abba Kyari, authorising the NNPC to exclude the accounts from the TSA.

Expressing surprise over the discovery, Danburam-Nuhu stated, “Banks are still holding accounts with funds up to N50bn outside the TSA.

“The banks claim that there is an approval by the President for the accounts to operate outside the TSA.

“These are NNPC accounts and the corporation must produce evidence of the presidential approval.”

A senior official of the CBN, Mr. Dipo Fatokun, confirmed to the committee that the NNPC indeed wrote to inform the apex bank of the exemptions.

However, he specifically mentioned accounts relating to JV operations as the NNPC accounts covered by the exemptions.

“The banks are actually holding some accounts. We are aware. It’s not yet a case of 100 per cent transfer to the TSA,” he explained.

He also informed the committee that some accounts, still being kept by the banks, had legal limitations, while others were accounts owned by the judiciary and the National Assembly.

A memo by Kyari, purporting to convey President Muhammadu Buhari’s exemption directive, was analysed by members of the committee and was rejected as not convincing.

One of the members, Mr. Edward Pwajok (SAN), said the memo did not say much other than opening with the line, “I have been directed.”

Pwajok added that in the circumstances, the proper thing to do was to summon Kyari to convince the committee that Buhari indeed granted the exemptions.

“Let him come here to show us the evidence of the directive given to him by Mr. President,” he said.

Another member, Mr. Simon Arabo, noted that Kyari’s memo appeared to be an “Executive Order”, which had to be further examined by the committee.

The committee made two rulings: that the Group Managing Director of the NNPC, Mr. Maikanti Baru, be summoned to produce the presidential approval within 48 hours.

It also directed the CBN to submit a reconciliation report on the accounts still with commercial banks before the end of this month.

Meanwhile, the Centre for Anti-Corruption and Open Leadership and the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, have criticised President Buhari over the exemption of the NNPC’s N50bn from the Treasury Single Account.

The groups said the allegation of N50bn NNPC accounts’ exemption from TSA was capable of destroying the Buhari administration, if found to be true.

This is also as a Second Republic lawmaker and a northern elder statesman, Dr. Junaid Muhammed, said the National Assembly must “immediately begin impeachment procedures against the President” if the allegation of exemption was found to be true.

The CACOL Director, Debo Adeniran, said, “This allegation is beyond just indicting the government; it will amount to a statement of contradictory principles. It will mean that this administration is working on ambiguous principles which fall short of the hallmark of good governance. It will amount to an abuse of office and conflict of interests. We should still believe that it cannot be true and that the President will condescend to engaging in under-the-hand dealings.”

http://investorsking.com/tsa-reps-query-buharis-exemption-n50bn-nnpc-accounts/

The Federal Government on Monday said the sum of N750bn would be released this week to its Ministries, Departments and Agencies for the execution of some capital projects contained in the 2017 budget.

The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, gave the figure while speaking during a meeting with a delegation of investors from France.

The delegation is made up of 30 companies from France that also expressed their readiness to invest in key sectors of the Nigerian economy.

The 2017 budget, christened Budget of Recovery and Growth, was presented to the National Assembly on December 14, 2016, and passed by the lawmakers in May.

The fiscal document, which was signed into law by Prof. Yemi Osinbajo on June 12, 2017 then as Acting President, has a total expenditure of N7.44tn out of which N2.99tn is for non-debt recurrent spending; N2.36tn for capital expenditure while debt servicing is to gulp N1.66tn.

Adeosun said the government had previously released the sum of N450bn for capital projects, adding that with the additional N750bn, a total of N1.2tn would have been invested in infrastructure projects.

She said, “What the government is doing is to provide the enabling infrastructure that would turn potential into a reality.

“Last year, we released N1.3tn for capital (projects) and so far this year, we have released N450bn. This week, we will release another N750bn. This will take the releases to N1.2tn by the end of the year.”

She told the delegation that the infrastructure deficit in the country was huge, adding that this had provided an opportunity for investment.

The head of the delegation, Mr. Philippe Labonne, said the investors had indicated interest to invest in key sectors of the economy such as banking, infrastructure, renewable energy, agriculture and youth empowerment.

He said the decision of the companies to invest in Nigeria was taken following a directive by the government of France for French companies to increase their investments in Nigeria.

He described the Nigerian economic environment as encouraging following the recent stability in its foreign exchange market.

To achieve their investment objective, Labonne said that most of the French companies would form strategic partnerships with their Nigerian counterparts.

“We are here to assess the investment environment in Nigeria to enable us to take advantage of Nigeria’s investment opportunities.

“We have about 30 companies in this delegation in sectors such as infrastructure, services, agriculture and banking; and the purpose of this meeting is to identify key sectors where we can invest. We are interested in many areas such as energy, agriculture and services, especially towards youth (development); and we will identify other areas subsequently.”

Before the meeting with Adeosun, the delegation had met with the Executive Secretary, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, Ms. Yewande Sadiku.

Sadiku had told them that Nigeria remained a top destination of capital inflows on the African continent.

She said, “Nigeria is strategically located in Africa to serve the needs of many countries as a regional hub to the continent. We have a compelling population that provides the market, which means that Nigeria can serve as a manufacturing hub for investors.”

Sadiku said that France was one of the many countries that Nigeria was targeting in its investment strategy.

On investment inflows, she said France appeared as number 10 on the chart and represented about $1bn of the capital inflows that had come into Nigeria.

http://investorsking.com/fg-to-release-additional-n750bn-for-capital-projects/

For the first time in more than four years, the United States’ monthly import of Nigerian crude oil rose to 12.29 million barrels in August, the latest report from the US Energy Information Administration has revealed.

The US imported a total of 28.53 million barrels of crude oil from Nigeria in the third quarter of this year, up from 18.88 million barrels in the same period last year; 10.13 million barrels in 2015; 5.10 million barrels in 2014; and 21.23 million barrels in 2013.

Nigeria saw a significant reduction in the US imports of its crude in recent years, starting from 2012, following the shale oil production boom.

The US import of Nigerian crude fell to 6.17 million in June 2013 from 10.115 million barrels in May and about 40 million barrels in March 2007.

In 2014, when global oil prices started to fall from a peak of $115 per barrel, Nigeria saw a further drop in the US imports of its crude from 87.4 million barrels in 2013 to a record low of 21.2 million barrels.

For the first time in decades, the US did not purchase any barrel of Nigerian crude in July and August 2014 as well as in June 2015, according to the EIA data.

The US almost tripled the volume of crude oil bought from Nigeria last year, with the biggest monthly import of 8.43 million barrels in July. It imported 76.9 million barrels of Nigerian oil in 2016, up from 19.9 million barrels in 2015.

Meanwhile, Nigeria’s January oil exports are expected to slip back from a 21-month high hit in December, according to a Reuters’ compilation of loading plans on Thursday.

Crude oil exports of 1.76 million barrels per day are scheduled for January on 62 cargoes. The total compared with exports set at 1.94 million bpd in December, the highest scheduled since March 2016.

Traders said some of the December cargoes could slip into January, but that the exports were likely to be slightly lower on the whole. The programme also included three cargoes of Akpo condensate for a total of 97,000 bpd, the same level as December.

Last month, the EIA, the statistics arm of the US Energy Department, said the US crude oil exports in the first half of 2017 increased by more than 300,000 bpd from the first half of 2016, reaching a record high of 900,000 bpd.

It said following the removal of restrictions on exporting the US crude oil in December 2015, total volumes of crude oil exports and the number of destinations for those exports both increased.

The US exported crude oil to 27 countries in the first half of 2017 compared with 19 countries in the first half of 2016.

Canada remained the largest recipient of the US crude oil exports at 307,000 bpd, but imported an average of 63,000 bpd less compared with the first half of 2016. China increased its crude imports from the US by 178,000 bpd and became the second largest importer of the US crude oil, averaging 186,000 bpd in the first half of the year.

http://investorsking.com/us-import-nigerian-crude-hits-four-year-high/

Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man, was on Wednesday featured on NASDAQ tower in Times Square, New York as one of the 50 most influential people.

As the only African on the Bloomberg 50 list of this year’s most influential people, a photo of Dangote was displayed on the Nasdaq Tower in Times Square, New York after he was selected to make the list.

The NASDAQ Tower is considered the most visible LED video display in Times Square and is one of the most valuable advertising spaces in the world.

It’s the largest continuous sign in Times Square. It has close to 9,000 square feet of display space — about a quarter of an acre.

http://investorsking.com/dangote-featured-on-nasdaq-tower-new-york/

The Federal Government on Thursday directed the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to source for emergency petrol supply in order to clear queues of motorists at filling stations across the country before the end of this week.

According to the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Ibe Kachikwu, such emergency supply will help fill up the gaps in the system that created the current scarcity of petrol being experienced in the country at present.

The minister stated that the national oil firm had been directed to also track its cargoes to know their expected time of arrival, adding that the government had undertaken strategic steps to address the current fuel crisis.

Kachikwu told journalists in Abuja that regulatory agencies like the Department of Petroleum Resources and the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency had commenced stricter monitoring of the supply and distribution of Premium Motor Spirit by oil dealers.

He said the fuel crisis was due to the fact that the NNPC was the sole importer of the commodity, adding that other marketers had stopped importing PMS.

On other emergency steps being taken by the NNPC to fill up the gaps in petrol supply, the minister stated that four cargoes of PMS were expected in the next four days, while about 30 vessels would come in within one week.

Kachikwu said the Federal Government was also considering additional trucking to major cities by the NNPC, using the corporation’s strategic reserves in Suleja, Minna, Gusau and Gombe.

The states to be fed with large quantities of petroleum products, apart from Lagos, according to him, include Abuja, Kano, Sokoto axis and the North-East.

The final strategy, he noted, involved flooding the market with more products to cushion the effect of over-subscription and sharp practices through the Kaduna refinery, which has started producing about 750,000 litres of PMS, and the Port Harcourt refinery, which will in the next one week commence the production of 2.1 million litres per day.

“What the buying public is expected to see over the next week is a significant improvement in Lagos. Lagos (fuel) queues have already started thinning out and it is expected to get better by Friday. Abuja queues are also expected to thin out completely by the weekend, while areas in Kaduna are to be served by the refineries and strategic reserves from the Suleja depots,” the minister stated.

In the long term, Kachikwu stated that emphasis would be on the revamp and upgrade of refineries, as efforts were on to ensure that the process for the award of contracts for the facilities was concluded before the end of the year, while work on them would commence in January.

Meanwhile, some petrol stations in Akure and other towns in Ondo State have started selling petrol at N147 per litre through the ‘black market’.

Many filling stations in Akure, Owo and some other towns had long queues of motorists and motorcyclists on Thursday, while others were shut due to non-availability of the product.

While few major petrol marketers were selling at the official pump price of N145 per litre, it was observed that many independent marketers were not selling and those who had the product sold it through the ‘black market’ at around N147 per litre.

http://investorsking.com/ensure-emergency-fuel-supply-fg-tells-nnpc/

Following Wednesday record gain, cryptocurrency Bitcoin set a new record on Thursday after blasting through $14,000 a coin to $15,007.70. Bringing its total gain in December to more than 40 percent and a month gain to more than 130 percent from $5,775.54 recorded in November.

The blockchain encrypt cryptocurrency got a boost from Australia’s mean exchange operator for equities and derivatives, ASX Ltd., when the exchange announced on Thursday that it will start using blockchain to process equity transactions. The startup run by former JPMorgan Chase & Co. banker Blythe Masters, Digital Asset Holdings LLC, will supply the technology.

The digital currency upsurge was also aided by the successful test of the lightning Network, which promises to provide a new way to pay with Bitcoin. Investors and experts believe the new technology will ease the ongoing congestion plaguing the coin transaction by allowing buyers and sellers to transact privately and later broadcast their activity to the public network.

“We had done some tests before on the main net, but this was the first payment on the Bitcoin blockchain across implementations,” Stark said in an email. “The stakes are quite a bit higher when it comes to releasing for the main Bitcoin network.”

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market capital, has gained more than 1,300 percent from about $1,000 a coin in January 2017 to $15,007.70 in December even as some experts believed the high flying unregulated digital currency is a bubble waiting to burst. The dominant cryptocurrency has continued to set new all time record.

Top global exchanges like Cboe Global Markets Inc., CME Group Inc., etc has announced they will start trading Bitcoin futures this December. While Nasdaq Inc. is planning to start in 2018. According to experts, this will further bring the Bitcoin to mainstream investors and force regulators to act.

Bitcoin market capital rose to $251 billion, up from $205 billion recorded on Wednesday.

http://investorsking.com/bitcoin-sustains-upsurge-rises-above-15000/ mynd44

Nigeria is set to get another new oil refinery as a government push to end fuel imports attracts investors to the industry.

Petrolex Oil & Gas Limited plans to build a $3.6bn plant with a capacity of 250,000 barrels a day, its Chief Executive Officer, Segun Adebutu, said in an interview with Bloomberg in Lagos. The closely held company is working on the “front-end engineering design” and will complete construction in 2021, he said.

Nigeria, Africa’s biggest oil-producing nation, doesn’t have adequate refining capacity and imports at least 70 percent of its needs. A government pledge to end such purchases in the next two years by building local capacity has lured investors, including Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, who is constructing a 650,000-barrel-a-day refinery. Meanwhile Saipem SpA and other international companies are in talks to rehabilitate the country’s three existing plants.

Petrolex, whose CEO started an oil and fuel trading business about 12 years ago, has also built a storage tank farm and other mid-stream infrastructure for $330m, Adebutu said.

The inauguration of the tank farm and the start of the refinery construction, both at the same site in Ibefun, Ogun State, is planned for this month.

The tanks are connected to a pipeline at Mosimi, which will transport products around the country, according to the CEO, who sees a big market in Nigeria’s 180 million-strong population. Petrolex will finance the refinery project with loans from local and international lenders, as well as its own revenue, he said.

The company also plans a fertilizer plant and lubricants facility as well as a liquefied petroleum gas plant, Adebutu said.

Petrolex is targeting listing on the Nigerian Stock Exchange in the next 10 years to ensure the business outlives its owners and can fund future expansion, according to Adebutu.

“By the next five years, we would have achieved a significant amount of our ambition, then begin strategy talks with the stock exchange,” he added.

http://investorsking.com/petrolex-plans-3-6bn-oil-refinery-ogun/

The President of Dangote Group, Aliko Dangote, has been recognised as one of the people who defined global business in 2017.

The Bloomberg 50 is a new, annual, multi-platform initiative that honours 50 icons and innovators who have changed the global business landscape in measurable ways over the past year.

The first Bloomberg 50 honourees were selected by the Bloomberg Businessweek team after months of input from many of Bloomberg’s 2,700 journalists and analysts around the globe, leveraging the resources of the Bloomberg Terminal, and represent the most influential thought leaders in business, finance, technology and science, politics, and entertainment.

A statement on Tuesday quoted Dangote as saying, “I am very delighted with this selection and I see the recognition as a call to do more towards youth empowerment, job creation, better health for the people and economic emancipation of the African continent.”

As of February 2017, Dangote, according to Forbes Magazine, had an estimated net worth of $12.5bn, ranked as the 67th richest person in the world and the richest in Africa.

Bloomberg, in the preface written by Paul Wallace, said, “Dubbed ‘the quiet billionaire’ for his relatively frugal lifestyle, Dangote fast-tracked plans to help his country of 180 million people import less of what it eats. Dangote, who made his fortune in the cement industry, is turning his attention to dairy and sugar farming; he’s earmarked $800m to buy 50,000 cattle in the hope of producing 500 million litres of milk annually by 2019.

“He’s also racing to finish a 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery near Lagos, set to be one of the world’s biggest, and says he intends to spend as much as $50bn in the next decade on renewable energy and petrochemical refineries, including investments in the US and Europe. Which is all fine, but not quite his grand ambition: buying Arsenal, his favourite soccer team.”

http://investorsking.com/dangote-named-among-50-influential-people-globally/ mynd44

Nigerian lawmakers approved the government’s $74 billion expenditure plan for the next three years, paving the way for the adoption of the 2018 record budget aimed at spurring economic growth after a slump.

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration proposed a budget of 8.6 trillion naira ($23.9 billion) next year, and 9 trillion naira in both 2019 and 2020 for Africa’s biggest oil producer and most-populous nation. The benchmark crude price in the budget is $47 a barrel, higher than $45 initially submitted by the government, according to the version approved by lawmakers in the capital, Abuja.

More than a third of the 2018 spending, which is a 16 percent increase on this year’s, will go into roads, rail, ports and power to help spur business and expand an economy that contracted by 1.6 percent last year. Economic growth is forecast to reach 7 percent in 2020, according to the three-year plan.

Buhari’s administration wants to plug a projected budget deficit of 2 trillion naira with 1.7 trillion naira of new debt, half of which will come from external sources. It will draw more funds from the planned privatization of non-oil assets worth 306 billion naira, Buhari told lawmakers earlier this month.

While Nigeria’s budget calendar runs from January through December, approving spending proposals has been delayed by more than four months in the past as lawmakers and the executive haggle over allocations. This has reduced policy predictability and slowed some investments, according to the budget office.

http://investorsking.com/nigerian-lawmakers-approve-74-billion-three-year-spending-plan/

The Federal Government on Monday reached an agreement with the Switzerland to repatriate $321 million traced to the late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, according to the Cable.

The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed on behalf of Nigeria by the Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami, in Washington DC, United States at the headquarters of the World Bank Group.

According to the deal signed, the fund is expected to be spent on social protection programme in Nigeria.

The late former Head of State, General Sani Abacha, ruled Nigeria for five years, during which he stashed billions of dollars abroad. While several recoveries have been made since the nation return to democracy in 1999, government has been accused of mismanagement. Therefore, civil society organisations involved in the negotiation are expected to monitor the fund henceforth.

According to Malami, funds meant for infrastructure and national development had been stolen and stashed in different parts of the world. In the last 10 years, Switzerland has returned more than $723 million stashed in various bank accounts abroad.

“It is widely acknowledged that corruption undermines economic development, political stability, rule of law, social development, disrupts social order and destroys public trust in the governance system. It is an established fact that corruption which is linked to organised crime, terrorism and insecurity is one of the reasons for underdevelopment,” he added.

http://investorsking.com/switzerland-to-return-321m-abacha-loot/ Lalasticlala mynd44 Dominique

Global oil investors have started holding back on growing U.S. oil rigs, even as OPEC promise to extend production cuts through the end of 2018.

U.S. oil rigs rose to 749 last week, the largest level since September, according to Baker Hughes report. Prompting investors and traders to pullback on concern that growing Shale production will disrupt of OPEC ongoing strategy.

“The OPEC deal will mostly work for non-OPEC,” said Eugen Weinberg, head of commodities research at Commerzbank AG in Frankfurt. “Even if OPEC delivers the cuts promised, and prices stay high long enough, the main result will be that U.S. shale adds on close to 1 million barrels a day of additional production.”

Global benchmark crude, Brent crude shed 0.9 percent to $63.16 a barrel, down from $63.73 it closes on Friday, while the US West Texas Intermediate dropped 1 percent to $57.80 a barrel down from $58.32 recorded on Friday.

In effort to further balanced global crude oil, the OPEC last week in Vienna included Nigeria and Libya in production cuts by capping Nigeria production at 1.8 million barrel per day and Libya at 2017 production level.

The Nigerian Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu said: “Our current production is 1.75, we are still below the 1.8 that was the benchmark which is comfortable but you’re going to see a lot more pressure as we go into next year.”

“Our contribution is fairly limited because we are still lacking in that capacity to reach the marks anywhere soon.”

http://investorsking.com/oil-prices-moderate-rising-u-s-oil-rigs/

The automobile sector of the economy is yet to fully recovered from the economic downturn that plunged sales in the industry.

According to the Managing Director, Toyota Nigeria Limited, Kunle Ade-Ojo, a total of 7,000 new vehicles were sold in the third quarter of 2017, representing 48 percent decline from 14,500 units sold in the same period in 2016.

“As of the end of the third quarter of the year, the vehicle sales were 7,000 units compared to about 14,500 last year, which is a drop of about 48 per cent in sales.”

However, the managing director said there is a slight improvement in importation in the third quarter when compared with the first quarter of the year when about 90 percent decline was recorded.

“From the importation point of view, there is a slight improvement because in the first quarter, we had about 90 per cent drop, but as of the third quarter, the drop had reduced to 62 per cent.”

Four years ago, the Nigerian Automotive Council had given 50,000 as the annual figure of new vehicles sales in the country against about 500,000 for used vehicles.

But the drop in the Naira value against the US dollar and the surged in import duty from 22 percent to 70 percent weighed on business activities in the industry and plunged sales and importation/assembly.

The economy recovered from the first recession in almost 25 years in the second quarter, after contracting for five quarters. Suggesting that recovery is not broad-based and certain industries are still struggling to tap into the renewed business confidence and surged in economic activities in the country.

According to Ade-Ojo, “Most sales were more of commercial vehicles. In 2018, we hope to see a bit of balancing with the recovery of passenger vehicles. This year, a lot of companies were very careful because of the economic recession. They buy vehicles that will help improve productivity of their business.”

“As the economy improves, so will there be balancing of sales across the models and vehicle segments.”

Toyota Nigeria has the largest market share in the automobile industry as of the third quarter of 2017. The company projected an increase of 2 percent from current 22 percent to 24 percent in 2018.

http://investorsking.com/new-vehicle-sales-drop-48-in-q3/

The National Bureau of Statistics on Friday released the Internally Generated Revenue figures for states of the federation for the third quarter of this year, with 19 states generating a total revenue of N149.45bn.

The bureau in the report, a copy of which was made available to our correspondent in Abuja, stated that 17 states had yet to submit their IGR reports for the period.

The report stated that Lagos State recorded the highest IGR, with N73.74bn; while Ogun State followed with N16.9bn.

Delta recorded N13bn in IGR; Kaduna, N6.3bn; Oyo, N5.6bn; Enugu, N4.7bn; Bayelsa, N4.3bn; Akwa Ibom, N3.3bn; Cross River, N2.83bn; and Ondo, N2.7bn; and Plateau, N2.5bn.

Others are Osun, N2.4bn; Benue, N2.3bn; Imo, N1.6bn; Jigawa N1.6bn; Taraba, N1.5bn; Ekiti N1.3bn; Zamfara, N1.2bn; and Yobe, N1.1bn.

The report read in part, “A total of N149.45bn was generated by states in third quarter of 2017. This excludes Rivers, Sokoto, Nasarawa, Niger, Kwara, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Kogi, Gombe, Edo, Borno, Bauchi, Adamawa, Abia, Ebonyi and Anambra states, which have not yet reported their IGR figures for Q3 2017.”

The Acting Chairman, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Shettima Abba-Gana, had said the decline in allocation from the Federation Account by over 30 per cent had made it imperative for the commission to assist states to increase their IGR.

He said while some states had made efforts to increase their IGR to a level that was up to the amount they were getting from the Federation Account, others had yet to make such efforts.

Abba-Gana stated, “We have a resilient economy that despite the drop in revenue by one third, things are still going on although with difficulty, and we are improving.

“Some states have now been able to raise their Internally Generated Revenue to a level that is enough to pay their salaries. And the others are also catching on. There is an increase in interest by the states to raise their IGR and to diversify.”

He added, “Some states are already generating the same amounts that they receive from the Federation Account and we must commend those states.

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