Naira depreciates further at parallel market

The naira yesterday further depreciated against the dollar at the parallel market. The naira lost N1.50 to the dollar, as it was traded at N225.5 to the dollar at the market on Monday afternoon.

This is against the N224 to the dollar recorded last Friday.


The official interbank rate also dropped by 0.05 to N196.95 to the dollar.
 Traders at the parallel market attributed the depreciation of the naira at the market to insufficient quantity of dollar at the market.

Meanwhile, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo has said the country will keep its restrictions on foreign currency for now in order to preserve foreign reserves amid plunging oil revenues.
Nigeria has restricted imports since June to offset a fall in vital oil revenues which has hit public finances and the naira.

But the Manufacturers Association of Nigeria has warned that some companies might be forced to close plants because they could no longer import raw materials or equipment for their production.
Osinbajo defended the restrictions, saying they had enabled the country’s foreign currency reserves to stabilize, but said they were only a short-term measure.

“We want an open foreign exchange market. But that market must be one that has the resources to make it robust and open,” he told reporters late on Saturday. “So, long term, we expect that the Central Bank will ease restrictions as we go along.”

“In fact, medium to long-term and hopefully we will be able to go back to more or less where there was greater freedom of movement (before) current restrictions,” he said.

Osinbajo also said Nigeria’s economic growth should pick up “a bit” in the next quarters, after halving in the second quarter year-on year, as power supplies had improved.

“We are well on the way to getting out of the worst part of where we are today,” he said, dismissing fears the country could slip into recession next year.

He also said there would be no exemption for state bodies to transfer revenues into a single account at the central bank, which is part of a drive to combat graft by President Muhammadu Buhari. Banks have complained the rule has sucked up liquidity.

Buhari asks NNPC GMD to join cabinet: Senate leader

President Muhammadu Buhari has asked the head of the state oil firm NNPC, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, to join his cabinet, Senate President Bukola Saraki said on Tuesday.

Saraki, reading out Buhari's cabinet nominations which need to be approved by the upper house, did not specify a portfolio for Kachikwu.

But oil industry sources say he is expected to become state minister of petroleum to oversee daily operations under Buhari. The President told Reuters last week he would hold the petroleum ministry portfolio himself.

Buhari appointed Kachikwu, a former Exxon-Mobil manager, to head state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) last August, after firing the previous board in an overhaul to fight graft and mismanagement.

Buhari's other cabinet nominations announced on Tuesday included former state governors such as Babatunde Fashola, the former governor of the commercial capital Lagos. He also proposed Rotimi Amaechi, former governor of Rivers State.

Buhari, a former military ruler, had been under fire for failing to appoint a cabinet four months after taking office on May 29 while the oil-dependent economy was being hammered by a plunge in global oil prices.

Diezani played god, even Jonathan could not tame her – Agbaje

Lagos-based constitutional lawyer, Fred Agbaje has urged the incoming ministers to learn from the ongoing trial of former Minister of Petroleum Resources, Diezani Alison-Madueke.

Diezani is being tried in the United Kingdom (UK) by Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) for alleged bribery and corruption-related charges.

In an interview with Daily Independent, Agbaje said Diezani’s trial was a manifestation that the war against corruption spearheaded by President Muhammadu Buhari was gaining ground and that looters of the nation’s patrimony would not escape justice.

He lamented how Diezani behaved like “a thin god and was so powerful that even her boss, former President Goodluck Jonathan could not tame her.”

“It is not only a welcome development but also a manifestation that the war against corruption is being recognised both locally and internationally. It is a testimony to the fact that there is no hiding place for any criminal in Nigeria again”.

“The world has indeed become a global village. Anybody who commits a crime in Nigeria and takes to his or heels by seeking sanctuary abroad cannot escape justice. Anywhere you are in the world, you will be smoked out to come and face trial.

“The likes of Diezani, who became a thin god in Nigeria when she was in office should know that the end of culture of impunity has come with the war against corruption in Nigeria. They were the laws of the land during Jonathan’s regime.

Shell begins operations in Bonga Northwest

Oil major, Royal Dutch Shell said it has started the third phase of operations in Nigeria.

The firm said its exploration and production company started production at the third phase of the offshore Bonga prospect.

“This new start-up is another important milestone for Bonga, adding valuable new production to this major facility,” upstream director Andrew Brown said in a statement.

Shell last year started oil production from the deepwater Bonga Northwest development off the coast of Nigeria. At its peak, the company said the third phase of operations in the country should be around 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent.

Nigeria is a member of the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). In August, Nigeria produced about 1.86 million barrels of oil per day (bpd), about four per cent higher than the previous month, according to OPEC.

Reserves taken from the third phase of the Bonga prospect will be fed through existing production infrastructure offshore, which can produce more than 200,000 barrels of oil and 150 million cubic feet of natural gas per day at full capacity.

Nigeria: FG to empower 30, 000 youths through agriculture programme

The Federal Government of Nigeria has commenced the empowerment of 30, 000 youths through its Youth Employment in Agriculture Programme (YEAP), according to the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Sonny Echono.

According to a statement, Echono said the Programme  endorsed by the ministry’s Director of Information, Mr. Tony Ohaeri in Abuja would cut across the various value chains, which include rice, maize, tomatoes and others.

Mr. Echono stated that the ministry received about 34,000 applications from intending Nagropreneurs and Market Oriented Producers from 12 participating states including the FCT.

He said that a total of 250 Nagropreneurs would be selected per state including the FCT under the first phase of the programme.

The Permanent Secretary explained that the validation and final selection of the young Nagropreneurs and Market Oriented producers would be done at state levels in collaboration with the ministry’s state Directors.

He said that training would also be conducted for the beneficiaries at different credible Agricultural and Research Institutions, universities and other vocational training institutions across the country.

Mr. Echono listed the participating states to include Akwa Ibom, Bauchi, Gombe, Imo, Kaduna, Kastina, Lagos, Niger, Ogun and the FCT.

“The beneficiaries would  be trained in different value chains namely: Rice, Aquaculture, Poultry, Maize, Tomato, Wheat, Sorghum, Apiculture, Soya bean, Cassava, Groundnut, Oil Palm, Snailry, Grass cutter  and multiple value chains like welding and fabrication, repair and maintenance,” he said in the statement.

BVN: No More Extension For Non-compliant Customers

With less than 25 days to the deadline for customers to comply with their Bank Verification Number (BVN) registration, banks in the country as all as the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) have said there will be no extension for defaulting customers.

The CBN had moved the deadline from the initial June 30 date to October 31 following last minute rush by customers. The apex bank has however made known its resolve not to further extend the deadline.

It also received support from banks as the Bankers Committee, which comprise of bank’s chief executives and the CBN last Friday announced that there would be no more extension. Speaking with journalists after the committees meeting, the managing director and chief executive of Ecobank Nigeria, Jubril Aku said once the deadline has passed, customers will not be allowed to operate their accounts.

“October 31 is the deadline and we don’t want what happened the other time where there was a rush towards the end of the deadline. We want to make sure that we continue to sensitize bank customers so that they would come and do their BVN because there would be no extension.

“Once that deadline pass, you will not be able to operate that account. All efforts have been made to ensure that the registration process is seamless for customers to come and obtain their BVN” he said.

Following the initial rush between the end of June and July 2015, there has been a steady decline in new BVN enrolment figures for August and September, 2015 according to the CBN.

The emerging statistical trend of the BVN registration exercise showed for about 52 million active bank accounts in various banks, total enrolment stood at about 20 million, out of which about 14 million accounts have been found linked to the BVN as at September, 2015.

Naira “appropriately priced” – CBN Governor

The naira is “appropriately priced” and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) does not plan any adjustments for the time being, the bank’s governor Godwin Emefiele said on Monday.

“At this time…the currency is appropriately priced,” Emefiele told a conference in London.

Africa’s largest oil producer has restricted imports since June to offset a fall in vital oil revenues which has battered public finances and the naira currency.

The naira has an official exchange rate peg of 196.95 per dollar but has traded weaker than that in parallel markets.

Metering: NERC fines Ikeja power firm N131.4m

The Ikeja Electricity Distribution Company has been fined N131.4m by the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission for defying the regulator’s metering order.

According to NERC, the firm has been sanctioned for its “flagrant breaches” of the Credited Advance Payment on Metering Initiative Order.

It stated that the fine was contained in Order NERC/141 and was issued on September 29, 2015 as a follow up to an earlier notice of commencement of enforcement action on the Disco alongside 10 others.

NERC said in a statement on Sunday that the firm, also known as Ikeja Electric, had manifested flagrant breaches in the implementation of the metering initiative.

It said, “The seven days granted (the firm) to show cause why enforcement action should not be commenced expired on August 24, 2015 and IKEDC has failed, refused and/or neglected to respond to the manifest or provide a satisfactory response.

The electricity distribution company was further ordered to “pay an administrative fine of N500 per minute for every hour of the day that it continues to default from October 12, 2015 until it complies.”

NERC said IKEDC’s action violated Section 63(1) of the Electric Power Sector Reform Act, 2005; Section 2(1) of the terms and conditions of its licence; as well as the commission’s order on the CAPMI.

The CAPMI is an initiative of the commission to assist the power distribution companies to close the wide metering gap in the power sector. It was introduced following a nationwide study conducted by NERC, which revealed that more than 50 per cent of electricity consumers were not metered but instead were on estimated billing.