Halt of Fuel subsidy saves FG $15.4bn – Kachikwu

   

    In a statement made by the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has said "Nigeria have been able to save a whooping sum of $15.4bn as a result of the removal of subsidy on petroleum products.

   Kachikwu, who was represented by the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Dr. Jemila Su’ara, also thanked the National Assembly for supporting the ministry and its agencies when the price modulation template was introduced in May.

In a statement issued by the ministry’s Director of Press and Public Relations, Mr. Idang Alibi, the minister stated that the price modulation had eliminated subsidies and liberalised the downstream sector of the oil and gas industry.

Senate Increases N180bn Virement to N213bn

 The Senate has increased the request by President Muhammadu Buhari for the virement of N180 billion with an additional N33 billion.In contrast, the House of Representatives increased the president’s request for the N180 billion virement to N208 billion. The difference would subsequently have to be harmonised by both chambers of the National Assemply before final approval.

    

  While presenting the report of the Joint Committee on Appropriation and Finance on the virement yesterday, its chairman, Senator Danjuma Goje, said the total amount was sourced from the recurrent and capital components of the Special Intervention Programme of the 2016 budget.

 He also said the agencies to which the funds would be vired gave enough justification for the request, explaining that some of the agencies told the committee that the amounts proposed by the president were inadequate to meet the shortfalls of their financial obligations.

The committee further reported that in view of its discovery on the needs of the affected agencies, it resolved to raise the request from N180 billion to 208.8 billion.

Beneficiaries of the hike, according to Goje, are the Public Complaints Commission (PCC), which had its original request raised from N1.2 billion to N2.5 billion and another N25 billion approved for the payment of local contractors’ debts.In summary, the committee approved N169.6 billion as recurrent expenditure and N39.2 billion as capital intervention fund.

  

   

Legislators want fuel sold at N70 per litre

    The House of Representatives on Tuesday faulted the current pricing template for Premium Motor Spirit, better known as petrol, saying that a realistic pump price should not be above N70.04 per litre.

     It, therefore, asked the Petroleum Products Pricing Regulatory Agency and Ministry of Petroleum Resources to review the current price template of PMS with a view to bringing down the price of the product.

The landing cost of the product today is N119.74k, while the distribution margin and other costs add up to N18.37k, bringing the total to N138.11k.
  
  the House, acting on a motion moved by Mr. Abubakar Hassan-Fulata, noted that 90 per cent of the current cost of PMS (N124.34k) was introduced by factors that were unnecessary.

It said the factors were related to transport charges, which were transferred to consumers by the marketers.Lawmakers argued that removing such unnecessary charges would not affect the profit margin of the marketers if the Federal Government put all the needed infrastructure in place.

In his lead debate, Hassan-Fulata listed some of the charges as lightering expenses, N4.56k; bridging fund, N6.20k; freight, N109.01k; NPA charges, N0.84k; and transport allowance, N3.36k.He also said the landing cost had inbuilt charges that when removed would not affect the profit margins of the importers and marketers.The lawmaker cited jetty charges, NIMASA charges, storage charges and retailers’ margin, among others, as costs that could be removed without affecting the profit margin of the marketers.

German firm to invest N186bn in solar

    

      A German firm LTI Re Energy and its Nigerian partner, NIGUS International, have sealed an agreement to light up the northern eastern part of the country through renewable energy resources.

    The firms have made known their intention to commit N180 billion in the development of solar energy in that part of the country. The companies revealed that they would soon commence construction of 500 megawatts of power supply in the zone, beginning with Adamawa State in the next few days.

    At the NIGUS-LTI Solar Investment round table held in Abuja, the Head, Overseas Operations, Nigerian Investment Promotion Commission, NIPC, Abubakar Yerima, said, the they were waiting to be issued license to commence operation. He added that, the company was ready to start construction of initial 500 megawatts and then expand, adding, “The NIPC has facilitated most of the meetings and we are now in final state of the PPA being approved.” Noting the investment would be in tune of $600 million, Yerima said, “Funding of the project is completely private sector initiatives’’. He said where the Federal Government comes in is in the areas of issuing of license and other forms of facilities needed, while commending the firms decision to invest in renewable energy resources in the North East zone which is a highly disadvantaged zone in the country because of the insecurity and other reasons.

  He charged all stakeholders in the power industry to make their input in all the bills concerning the sector pending before the National Assembly in order to encourage maximum development of the sector. According to him, “Primarily, what we are discussing here goes beyond Adamawa State. We are talking about the future of Nigeria. We are talking about renewable energy, and this is the trend worldwide’’.

Department of petroleum resources uncovers 87 illegal operating filling stations

  The Director of department of petroleum resources(DPR) Modecai Ladan, disclosed that the agency has discovered 87 filling stations operating without its approval in the last six months.


  

He said that the agency had already clamped down on the illegal filling stations.The DPR boss said that the agency was collaborating with other agencies and relevant stakeholders in nipping the problem in the bud.

He urged potential filling stations owners to be law abiding and adhere strictly to rules governing registration of filling stations.Mr. Ladan also said it was untrue that the agency had no record of crude oil produced by the country, saying the new DPR was on top of the situation.
He said that the theme of the conference reflected the agency’s commitment to harmonising valuable recommendations to the government.

Senate pledges to intervene in plans to increase cost of data tariffs

   In view of the news going around that the cost of data tariffs will go up as from the 1st of December 2016,the Senate President has promised that the Senate would intervene. 

 Senator Shehu Sani was among those who condemned the planned increase. “At a time telecom companies are still making billions in profits despite the recession, increasing tariff on data services is simply about extorting more from the people for data after paying more for electricity,” Senator Sani wrote.

In a reply to the numerous tweets,  Saraki confirmed that the Senate will look into the tariff increase.

Exchange rate as at 30th of November 2016

COUNTRY          CURRENCIES       IN NGR(Naira)
 EUROPE                     EUR                         N505/Euro
US DOLLAR                  USD                          N480/Dollar

GBPOUNDS                  GBP                          N580/Pound

Ecobank converts 819.4 million preference shares to equities

    Preference shareholders of Ecobank PLC has indicated their interest in converting to  equity shares.the parent company of the Ecobank Group, disclosed this on Monday in separate letters to the three stock exchanges on which ETI is listed – the Nigerian Stock Exchange, the Ghana Stock Exchange and the West African Stock Exchange.

   Once the requisite approvals are obtained, the preference shares would result in 630,325,909 ETI ordinary shares at an implied conversion price of N21.32 per new ordinary share, it said.

  In line with the terms on conversion of preference shares recommended to Oceanic shareholders by the Oceanic board, as stated in the scheme of arrangement documents, and approved by Oceanic shareholders, preference shareholders had the right, exercisable at any time between the third anniversary of the issue date and the fifth anniversary of this date, to convert their preference shares into ordinary shares in the company at the rate of one preference share to 0.76923 ordinary share.

Preference shareholders, therefore, had the right to convert their preference shares up to October 31, 2016.

Out of an outstanding of 1,031,515,911 preference shares, as of the end of December 2015, the holders of 819,424,548 such shares exercised their right to convert the shares into ordinary shares in the company.

Nigeria tax clearance certificate will now be part of the requirement needed to obtain international passport

Tunde Fowler -FIRS Chairman

   The Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service, Mr. Tunde Fowler, on Monday said Nigerians would soon be made to show evidence of tax  payment before  they could obtain passports.

  He also stated that Nigerians who either wanted a new passport or renew an old one must show evidence of being a tax-payer.

“We did take a position and I believe it would be implemented in the very near future that before you get any services from the immigration department: renewal of passports etc, you’d have to show that you are a tax payer.

 “These things are normal all over the world and it would help us to serve Nigerians and Nigeria better.
“People believe that payment of tax is a burden and I’ll repeat that you only pay tax on income and profits.

    “So, if you reside in Nigeria and you are benefiting from being a Nigerian resident, it is only fair that you contribute to the system that makes you enjoy that standard of living.’

GSM subscribers to pay more for data from Dec.1

 

  This  post definately answers the question about the text messages in circulation on increase of data and other tariffs as from December 1st 2016.

  
   Top management workers across the different network providers confirmed the story saying that the directive was from the Nigerian Communications Commission.The NCC issued the directive late last week on the orders of the Federal Government.

    It was gathered that the Federal Government took the decision having discovered that data rates are very low-priced in Nigeria, compared to other countries, including nearby African countries.
      
    “The government might have also taken the decision given that Nigerian subscribers have been kicking against the proposed nine per cent Communication Tax, whose bill is currently in the National Assembly.”

  “What this means is that MTN, Airtel, Etisalat And Globacom will increase their data rates as from December 1, 2016. A data plan of N1,000 for 1.5 Gigabytes will now be increased to N3,000 at N1,000 per 500 Megabytes.”

Exchange rate as at 24th of November 2016

COUNTRY          CURRENCIES       IN NGR(Naira)
 EUROPE                     EUR                         N500/Euro
US DOLLAR                  USD                          N470/Dollar

GBPOUNDS                  GBP                          N570/Pound


N.B : This rate is effective at the parallel market.

FG propose tax relief for manufacturers

     

Mrs Kemi Adeosun(MOF)

    The Federal Government through the minister of finance proposes a tax relief for manufacturers inorder to reduce the effect of the economic recession on the aforementioned.

    She said the tax relief was part of measures by the Federal Government to reduce the negative impact of the foreign exchange crisis on the sector.


   Based on the Gross Domestic Product report for the third quarter released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the manufacturing sector’s growth rate was recorded at -2.93 per cent year-on-year.

   The report had blamed the decline in manufacturing activities to the continued drop in the naira to dollar exchange rate, which has made industrial inputs more expensive.

   Adeosun said since the sector was one of those badly hit by the economic crisis, the Federal Government would support it with some form of incentives next year.She also said massive investments in infrastructure would be made to reduce the operating costs of the manufacturing sector.

   The minister stated, “It is clear from the figures that the manufacturing sector is the one that is really challenged and the challenge in the sector is clearly that of foreign exchange availability. I think that the sector will benefit from more consistency of the foreign exchange policy.

“On the fiscal side, we are rolling out a number of measures to support the manufacturing sector in terms of tax reliefs and other measures that will allow the balance sheet of the sector to be repaired. They (manufacturers) have taken quite a hit and we will continue to try and support them through it.

Top Gainers : 23th of November 2016

Stock Code

Name                          Closing

Price

Change

NES                            Nestle Nig Plc                     810                           10

CAP              Capital & allied product plc              33                           0.93

FLOURMILL             Flourmills PLC                 18.74                       0.89

PZ                                 PZ cussons                        15.20                         0.71

GXS                             Glaxosmith                         14                              0.46

AFREXIM invests $3.8b in Nigeria’s economy

The African Export-Import (AFREXIM) Bank, has invested $3.8 billion in the Nigerian economy this year, its President, Dr. Benedict Oramah, has said. Represented by the bank’s Director of Human Resources, Stephen Kuma, the president said the investments covered various sectors of the economy.
According to him, the bank would continue to invest in African economy to help the continent develop.

“The $3.8 billion which which AFREXIM has invested into the Nigerian economy is essentially over the period 2016 up to the end of October and it is in different sectors, to financial institutions (in the) oil and gas sector. Not primarily education,” he said.

He also said the bank will consider investing in Nigeria’s education sector in the future.
Oramah, who said there was a hug financial gap in the funding of education in Africa, advised governments to find innovative solutions to bridge the gap.“We don’t have any investment in education at the moment but these are areas we are looking at in the future.

“It is important for us to have balance between technical education and tertiary education. While it is useful to have people that are well educated in the arts and theories of science, it is also important to have people that are practical scientists that can actually help to build the economy.

“It is important to look at the fact that there is a financing gap and to look at innovative solutions that can help bridge that gap including student loan schemes as well as securitising those loan schemes so that you can be able to provide funding for universities to fill that gap,” Oramah said.

Bankers Committee, CBN plan N1.7tr agric funding

The Bankers’ Committee has unveiled plans by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to commit N1.7 trillion intervention funds into five agric sector projects to support the government’s economic diversification agenda.The committee said the funds, disbursed through commercial banks, were meant to stimulate development of various agricultural value chains from primary production to market access with multiplier effects on the economy.

It also called for continuous awareness around Nigerian banks’ efforts and most importantly educating the public on available opportunities and gains of active participation in the ongoing efforts to support government’s drive to diversify the economy.

The committee said the scheme also highlights its commitment to CBN’s economy diversification project. The funding plans, it added, would also support small, medium and commercial/large scale agriculture and help government achieve its economy diversification plans.
The committee listed some of the schemes under the CBN’s intervention plans as the Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (N69 billion), Commercial Agricultural Credit Guarantee Scheme (N200 billion), the Nigerian Incentive-Based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (N200 billion), and Small and Medium Enterprises Credit Guarantee Scheme (N200 billion) among others.
It explained that aside the funds created by the CBN, the Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) have also set up agriculture desks in their respective organisations signaling a renewed commitment to support and sustain the growth of the sector.

FG releases N250b loan for mass transit buses

   The Federal Government has provided a revolving loan of N250 billion for the purchase of mass transit buses in the country.
The loan will be disbursed through Infrastructure Bank.The Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechukwu Elenamah, made this known at a two day workshop organized by the National Automotive Design and Development Council NADDC in collaboration with the Nigerian Institute of Transport Technology, Zaria.

The Minister, who was represented by a Director in the Ministry, Mr Mahmud Lehman, said the loan was to address exorbitant cost of mass transit buses and over reliance on fairly used.
Dr Elenamah reiterated the determination of government towards repositioning the automobile industry.

Minister of Transportation, Mr. Rotimi Amaechi, represented by a Director, Dr. Antonia Ekpa, said government had put in place other measures toward enhancing the growth of the sector.
In a paper presentation, the Director-General of National Automotive Design and Development Council, Dr. Aminu Jalal, said the Council had trained stakeholders in the automobile industry towards improving and increasing local content in the sector.

Gainers list : 6th of October 2016

Stock Code		Name		Price	% Change	High	Low
CONOIL		National Oil & Chemical Marketing Plc		35.90	8.79%	35.90	35.90
7UP		7UP Bottling Plc		158.00	8.37%	158.00	158.00
FLOURMILL		Flour Mills Plc		21.05	4.99%	21.05	21.05
CAVERTON		CAVERTON OFFSHORE SUPPORT GRP PLC		0.67	4.69%	0.67	0.65
UBN		Union Bank Nigeria Plc		4.57	3.86%	4.57	4.40
NEM		N. E. M. Insurance Co. Plc		0.81	3.85%	0.81	0.81
UCAP		UCAP		2.46	3.36%	2.46	2.39
FIDELITYBK		Fidelity Bank Nigeria Plc		0.95	3.26%	0.96	0.91
UBA		United Bank For Africa Plc		4.15	2.98%	4.15	4.02
NASCON		National Salt Company Plc		8.10	1.12%	8.10	8.10
DANGCEM		DANGCEM		183.00	1.10%	183.00	183.00
SEPLAT		SEPLAT PETROLEUM		350.00	1.01%	350.00	349.99
UACN		UAC of Nigeria Plc.		21.00	0.96%	21.00	21.00
STERLNBANK		Sterling Bank		1.06	0.95%	1.06	1.03
FO		FORTE OIL NIGERIA PLC		159.90	0.88%	159.90	159.90
DIAMONDBNK		DIAMOND BANK PLC		1.27	0.79%	1.30	1.26
CHAMPION		Champion Breweries Plc		2.72	0.74%	2.72	2.65
VITAFOAM		Vitafoam Nigeria Plc		2.80	0.72%	2.80	2.79
DANGFLOUR		DANGOTE FLOUR		3.90	0.52%	3.90	3.80
NB		Nigerian Breweries Plc		145.98	0.12%	145.98	145.00

Exchange rate as at 7th of October 2016

COUNTRY          CURRENCIES       IN NGR(Naira)
 EUROPE                     EUR                         N515/Euro
US DOLLAR                  USD                          N473/Dollar

GBPOUNDS                  GBP                          N590/Pound

Chinese coys to visit Nigeria on $80bn oil investments – Kachikwu

    Chinese delegation will visit Nigeria by the end of this month to discuss investment in the country’s oil and gas industry, Minister of State for Petroleum Resources Ibe Kachikwu said yesterday.

The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) had in June said it signed memorandums of understanding (MOUs) worth $80 billion with Chinese firms to invest in Nigeria’s oil and gas infrastructure, pipelines, refineries, power, facility refurbishments and upstream.
Agreements were signed with Chinese companies including Norinco, CINDA, CNOOC and Sinopec/Addax.

  As part of the deal, the International Cooperation Commission (ICC) of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) was to develop a master plan and bankable projects that will attract Chinese investors to Nigeria’s oil, gas industry.
“We are having a team of over 40 Chinese ... visiting Nigeria by the end of this month,” Kachikwu told reporters in Abuja when asked about the agreements signed in June.
“I will say we have a one year period to work on this. We expect that some (investment) will come earlier,” he said.

Shareholders of PZ Cussons Approves N1.99 Billion Dividend

    At the annual general meeting (AGM) held yesterday,shareholders of PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc approved a N1.99 billion dividend payment for 2016 financial year thus translating to 50 kobo per share.

        Chairman of the company, Chief Kolawole Jamodu said despite the deteriorating operating environment, the company had remained focused and managed to deliver a steady performance for the period to grow shareholder value.

Jamodu disclosed the company recorded an exchange loss of N2.9 billion, cutting its group profit after tax (PBT) by 52 per cent to N3.15 billion from N6.56 billion in 2015 while its consolidated revenue decreased by 4.9 percent to N69.5 billion from N73.1 billion.

However, the chairman said: “Improved planning and execution in supply chain and targeted investments in key brands helped to limit the negative impact of the scarcity of foreign currency and other adverse effects.”He said in the overall assessment, the company “did well to hold its position in the market, reducing the negative impact of the prevailing adverse conditions and performing satisfactorily against peers in the sector.”


According Jamodu: ”We regard current economic challenges as transitory and we remain excited about the future of the company. Our confidence has been emboldened by positive policy changes being adopted by the government such as the new foreign exchange regime that has been introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria. Our brands remain strong and popular with consumers which leaves us well placed to hold our market and exploit any emerging opportunities.”

Naira Appreciates on Parallel Market as travelex make Dollar Sales to BDCs

   

       Travelex annouced yesterday about the  disbursement of $15,000 to each of the 3,000 registered Bureaux De Change (BDC) operators.

    President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON), Aminu Gwadabe said with each of the 3,000 BDCs getting $15,000 each, a total of $45 million will flow into the system.He lauded the CBN for authorising Travelex to take responsibility of disbursing huge dollar inflows from the diaspora estimated at $21 billion annually to BDCs.

He said the development, which was an improvement from the initially approved $10,000 weekly, would deepen dollar liquidity in the system and strengthen the naira against the dollar.

Gwadabe, said the experience and integrity of Travelex would be key in getting the dollars down to BDCs.
He urged all ABCON members and BDC operators, as a matter of urgency, to visit the apex bank’s branches in their respective zones to update or validate their en-cashers and signatories mandate card for Travelex biometric data capturing.

Gwadabe said the Travelex biometric data capturing would enable the BDCs access the International Money Transfer Operators (IMTOs)/Travelex dollars window.

He said remittances had direct positive and significant impact on consumption, investment, and demand in the country as it could be used to address short-run output shocks, and even long run growth. He said remittances tended to be stable and could increase during periods of economic downturns and natural disasters.
He commended the CBN for reaffirming the country’s commitment to building an enabling environment and level-playing field for international money transfer services to Nigeria.

He said by increasing the number of IMTOs from three to 14, the CBN under its Governor, Godwin Emefiele, would set the economy on the path of development in the medium- to long-term and also, restore integrity in the international money transfer business.

Gwadabe also commended the CBN’s efforts to strengthen the BDCs to meet the forex demand at the retail end of the market, so that they would continue to enhance employment generation in the country.
The ABCON boss was optimistic despite the challenges facing the economy, the CBN and BDCs would continue to work together and find sustainable solutions that could help the country wriggle out of the ongoing forex crisis and achieve full economic recovery.

He pledged that ABCON under his leadership would continue to ensure that purchased funds are sold to end users and on eligible transactions only, while weekly returns on purchases from the banks will be rendered to Trade and Exchange Department of the CBN. He further promised to ensure strict compliance to the provisions of the anti-money laundering laws and observance of appropriate KYC principles in the handling of forex transactions.

IMF offers Nigeria zero-interest loans

        At the ongoing meeting of  IMF/Worldbank,the Managing Director, IMF, Christine Largade said the International Monetary Fund is prepared to lend money to Nigeria and other countries facing economic crisis at zero interest rate in order to stimulate their recovery.

    

 “If we want to improve the inequality issue, we must have a strong international safety net. In this context, I am pleased to reveal that our board recently approved the extension of the zero interest rate on all concessional facilities from 2016 to 2018, and thereafter, if there is a need for an extension,” she said.

 Giving further details about the facility, the IMF boss said, “That is really important for low-income countries to be able to actually absorb the shocks without necessarily going to the international markets or relying on bilateral lending capacity of close to $1tn by extending access to bilateral borrowing agreements. The new agreements that are being signed this week will run at least through the end of 2019, and will continue to serve as a third line of defence.

“As you know, the first line of defence is quota; the second line is a new arrangement to borrow; and the third line of defence will be those bilateral loans.

   Giving further details about the facility, the IMF boss said, “That is really important for low-income countries to be able to actually absorb the shocks without necessarily going to the international markets or relying on bilateral lending capacity of close to $1tn by extending access to bilateral borrowing agreements. The new agreements that are being signed this week will run at least through the end of 2019, and will continue to serve as a third line of defence.

“As you know, the first line of defence is quota; the second line is a new arrangement to borrow; and the third line of defence will be those bilateral loans.