Kachikwu launches ‘war room’ to stop ‘bleeding’ at NNPC

Nigeria's minister of state for petroleum resources and group managing director of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Ibe Kachikwu, has inaugurated a strategic war room to stop bleeding at NNPC.
Kachikwu said the corporation was employing some pragmatic measures to reduce cost and restructure the corporate centre of the NNPC. He stated that the various business models of the corporation were undergoing a radical transformation in order to make it remain a business concern in the face of global dip in crude oil prices.

According to him, the corporation would navigate on a war zone in the next six months stressing that the management would deploy the right skills at the right locations for all operations.

Presenting a paper on the transformation journey of the NNPC titled: ‘Stop the bleeding, shine the light: Accelerating NNPC’s restructuring’, Kachikwu, who was represented by Yemi Adetunji , senior technical assistant to the GMD, said the restructuring process would urgently address challenges confronting all the strategic business units and corporate service units of the NNPC.

He highlighted that the process would lead to renegotiation of existing contracts, including production sharing contracts, strengthen subsidy management, boost pipeline security and enhance transparency and accountability.

Nigeri State Govt. bans use of tyres , plastic to process meat in abattoirs

Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger on Thursday announced the ban on use of tyres and plastic materials to process meat for consumption, following health hazards emanating from such practices.

The governor said this when the nine man committee on improvement of abattoirs in the state submitted its report at Government House, Minna.

“The use of tyres and other materials to process meat must stop in Niger state due to health hazards from such practices.

“We should introduce other modern hygienic methods of processing meat for consumption,’’ he said.

He said that during his electioneering campaigns, he saw the deplorable condition of abattoirs across the state, hence the inauguration of the committee by government in July to recommend ways of improving them.

“Our abattoirs are in deplorable condition aside the slaughtering of meat there are environmental hazards coming from them,’’ Bello said.

The governor said that government would engage Private /Public Partnership arrangement to improve abattoirs in the state.

Bello then set up another committee involving government officials and stakeholders to implement the recommendations of the committee.

Earlier, Dr Mohammed Kudu, chairman of the nine man abattoir improvement committee recommended ban of illegal materials for processing meat.

Stop begging, pay N1trn fine – FG tells MTN as Nigeria CEO faces sack

All pleas by the MTN Group to make President Muhammadu Buhari intervene in the N1trillion fine slammed on it by the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) have fallen on deaf ears.

This, perhaps, led to the yesterday’s resignation of MTN Group CEO Sifiso Dabengwa.

MTN Group in a statement yesterday said its former CEO, Phuthuma Nhleko would take charge for six months after which a new CEO will be appointed.

A senior federal official told Daily Trust that: “The MTN Group delegation met with the Chief of Staff to the President, Malam Abba Kyari and he told them they must pay the fine.

MTN said it was continuing talks with the authorities in Nigeria over the fine.

However, the federal government is only interested in seeing the fine paid.

“The November 16 deadline still stands. No concession, the government is only interested in seeing $5.2bn paid by MTN,” NCC official said.

Yesterday, MTN’s largest shareholder, South Africa’s Public Investment Corporation (PIC), said it wanted to meet with Nhleko about his plans to tackle the fine and wants more staff at MTN to take responsibility for the penalty

“A lot more people need to take collective responsibility for the fine…for the alleged failure to comply with regulatory requirements,” the PIC’s chief executive Daniel Matjila said in a statement.

Shares in MTN have slid by nearly 20 percent since October 26 when the charge was first reported, but were up 1.4 percent at 159.65 rand by yesterday, following news of Nhleko’s appointment.

“The board chose Nhleko because of his vast experience in Nigeria and his indepth knowledge of the company,” MTN’s spokesman Chris Maroleng said.

There are fears that the crisis may affect some of its top management staff, especially the country’s CEO, Michael Ikpoki as well as some other officials.

Construction companies sack 70,000 workers owing to economic downturn

No fewer than 70,000 workers in the construction industry are out of jobs due to the economic decline and inadequate development of infrastructure in the country.

Amechi Asugwuni, the President of the National Union of Civil Engineering Construction, Furniture and Wood Workers, confirmed this to the News Agency of Nigeria on Tuesday in Lagos.

According to Asugwuni, 60,000 to 70,000 workforce in the construction companies are out of jobs because there are no major ongoing capital projects in the country.

NAN reports that the recent lull in the sector had necessitated massive layoff of workers in both the Asian and Nigerian-owned construction companies.

Asugwuni criticised the infrastructural deficit in the country and urged President Muhammadu Buhari to address the problem in order to curb crime and reduce poverty in the country.
NAN reports that some of the construction companies such as the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation are always feeling the heat of the recession.

Since August 2009 when the CCECC began the construction of the 10-Lane Lagos/Badagry Expressway, the workers have occasionally protested over what they described as “unlawful sack and poor wages”.

Also in Julius Berger Plc, the Chairman, retired Air Vice Marshal Mohammed Imam, at the company’s 45th Annual General Meeting in Abuja, said there was a decline of seven per cent in the company’s turnover.
Imam said the present position of the company had led to it announcing a reduction in its turnover from N212.7 billion in 2013 to N196.808 billion in the 2014 financial year.

FG targets 1m jobs through growth employment project

The Federal Government says it targets between 600,000 and one million jobs within the next three years through the Growth and Employment Project.
Sani Labaran, the Director-in-charge of GEM in the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment, disclosed this in an interview with newsmen in Abuja on Tuesday.

Labaran, who is also the Coordinator of GEM, said the project would create both direct and indirect jobs in five sectors of the economy from 2015 to 2018.

He said the five sectors were identified based on their growth and employment potential.
The coordinator gave the sectors as the entertainment industry, ICT, hospitality and tourism, light manufacturing and agro processing as well as construction/real estate.

According to Labaran, the GEM Project is very important to the Federal Government and the Nigerian economy as it will help to address high unemployment rate.

TSA: CBN fines Skye Bank N4bn

The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has imposed a fine of N4 billion on Skye Bank Plc for failing to render appropriate returns on accounts of some government institutions and agencies.

This is contained in a statement by Skye Bank to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

The bank said that the fine imposed by the apex bank was misdirected since it did not conceal any information of the accounts from the central bank.

Skye Bank said that significant portion of the money for which penalty was applied belonged to the state-owned energy company NNPC Pension Funds and National Assembly Legislative Aides account balances.

It said that the sum of N40 billion for which the fine was imposed on it came from NNPC account balances it had received a communication from the oil giant excepting it from the Treasury Single Account (TSA) operations.

Skye Bank said it received “a communication from the NNPC forwarding a letter from the Accountant General of the Federation on the treatment of NNPC funds.

“By the communication, the bank is advised that an 18 business day window had been granted by the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, within which a plan for the orderly withdrawal of the NNPC funds will be implemented’’.

The statement said that Skye Bank had commenced engagement with the apex bank with a view to bringing the issues to the attention of the banking sector regulator and seeking a review of the penalty.

It will be recalled that CBN recently sanctioned First Bank N1.87 billion for refusal to remit about N37.55 billion belonging to the state-owned energy company.

Nigeria's foreign reserve fall to $30.13 bln by Oct 27

Nigeria's foreign exchange reserves fell to $30.13 billion by Oct. 27, down 0.84 percent from a month ago, central bank data have shown.

Foreign reserves of Africa's top crude exporter were down 22.43 percent year-on-year from $38.86 billion a year ago, the data showed.

The fall in reserve reflects the sale of dollars by the central bank to defend the naira currency which has been hit by the plunge in oil prices.

Nigeria bond yields fall sharply as central bank eyes lending

Yields on Nigeria’s bonds fell sharply across maturities on Tuesday as liquidity surged on the interbank money market, traders said, adding that the central bank was loosening monetary policy to spur credit growth.

Nigeria’s 2017 bond fell the most, down 110 basis point to 6.9 percent, a level last seen more than five years ago, traders said. The 10-year benchmark bond shed 72 basis point to 10.25 percent.

Overnight lending rates traded between 0.5 and 1 percent on Tuesday as banks’ balance on the interbank market stood at a credit of 850 billion naira ($4.3 billion), traders said.

BVN: CBN, BDCs disagree over impact on forex market

THE Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Bureau De’ Change (BDC) operators are at loggerheads over the impact of the directives on the use of Bank Verification Number (BVN) as a requisite for the purchase of foreign currency in the foreign exchange market.

This was activities in the parallel market showed that the naira depreciated N3 from N227/$1 on Monday to about N232/$1 on Friday, a week after the apex bank issued the directive on the foreign exchange market.

With the recent trend, it was noticed that the naira appreciated 2kobo on Monday to N199.08/$1 at the interbank market and this was maintained till Thursday when it depreciated 2kobo to N199.10/$1. Similarly, the CBN’s intervention rate also followed the same trend as it appreciated 2kobo to N196.98/$1 on Monday and depreciated by the same amount to N197/$1 on Thursday.

The President, Association of BDCs operators, Aminu Gwadabe, stated that fear of their BVNs being used for fraudulent activities had prevented customers from disclosing them, which made the customers to shun the BDC operators, thus leading to increased demand for dollars at the parallel market, resulting in a further depreciation of the naira.

Investigations over the weekend indicate that most of the BDC operators are now left with large volumes of unsold dollar cash, most of which they bought from the CBN official window. The operators are blaming the BVN requirement as mainly responsible for their inability to sell.

Speaking on the development, the Director of Corporate Communication of CBN, Ibrahim Mu’azu, in a statement made available to Daily Sun discountenanced the assertion that introduction of the BVN as a requirement for the sale of foreign exchange was responsible for the low patronage.

He described such assertion “as just a ploy to arm-twist or blackmail the CBN into reversing the directive on BVN requirement.”

Kano To Get New 100mw Electricity Plant

Kano state is set to get an electricity plant that will produce 100mw of electricity at no cost from a Spanish company.

According to the Spanish ambassador to Nigeria, Alfonso Sebastian, the company is interested in constructing a Photovoltaic Electricity Plant  if the Kano state government can provide them with the piece of land.

He made the remark while on a visit to the Kano state governor, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, suggesting to the governor to acquire a site near the national power grid for the take off of the project.

The ambassador also reiterated his country’s interest in trade, water supply and technology in the state, Leadership reports.

He said Spain has one of the largest gross domestic products in the world and potentially rich in renewable  energy sources.

Meanwhile, Governor Ganduje has promised to provide land and other incentives that will encourage foreign investors to set up manufacturing plants and other infrastructural projects in the state.

The governor however warned that his administration does not tolerate corruption, adding that because of Kano’s position as the most populous city in Nigeria and strategic commercial centre, it is the best destination for doing business in the country.

Meanwhile, the debt profile of Kano state has continued to rise proportionately with the signing ceremony of yet another $158 million loan facility by the commissioner for environment and officials from the World Bank.

Citing environmental and erosion control problems affecting the state as the basis upon which $158 million will be sourced from World Bank, the commissioner, Ali Haruna Makoda said that, erosion is threatening a lot of communities and settlements across the state and this informed government’s decision to immediately intervene and bring the needed succor.

Panic In Bayelsa Over Multiple Agip Pipeline Oil Spill

There were signs of panic among the Indigenes of the Kalaba/Ayamabele and Akumoni communities of Okordia Clan, Yenagoa Local Government Area of Bayelsa State following the multiple Oil spillage from the pipeline belonging to the Nigerian Agip Oil Company.

The Oil spill, according to the concerned indigenes occurred between November 2 and 3, 2015 and from about 12 ruptured points on the pipeline.

Leadership gathered that the breached points of the pipeline were said to be discharging crude oil into the environments of the communities destroying flora and fauna.

It was learnt that fear of the outbreak of spill-related epidemic had gripped the people as the impact of the incidents was spreading fast within the swampy environment aided by the current floods.

The incidents were reportedly caused by a third party interference following alleged non-payment for clean-up jobs by Agip.

A pipeline surveillance contractor and immediate past youth president of Kalaba community, Joel M. Joel, confirmed the spills and said the communities had been having challenges with the company.

Joel complained that since July this year when some surveillance contractors carried out a clean-up job in impacted area Agip, after clamping, had not deemed it necessary to pay them.

He said, “Now, one thing of concern is that, since July ,2015 till now Agip has not paid the surveillance contractors, especially those from Ayamabele and Kalaba; even though those of Akumoni are saying they are suffering the same fate.

MTN Group CEO resigns amid $5.2bn NCC fine

The MTN Group on Monday said its Chief Executive Officer will resign immediately as the telecoms firm continued talks with the Nigerian government over a $5.2 billion fine.

The Africa’s biggest mobile phone company says the CEO Sifiso Dabengwa will be replaced by non-executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko for a maximum of six months.
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MTN was fined in October by the Nigerian Communications Commission for failing to cut off users with unregistered SIM cards.

The company said it continued talks with the Nigerian authorities over the fine.

N1trn fine: NCC insists MTN must comply with Nov 16 deadline

Barring last-minute change of decision on the part of government, MTN Nigeria is expected to pay up the N1.04 trillion imposed on it in the next seven days.

The telecoms company had been fined $5.2 billion for failing to de-active 5.1 million unregistered SIM cards on its network.

NCC had set November 16 deadline for the telecoms company to pay up the fine. The penalty relates to the timing of the disconnection of 5.1 million subscribers and is based on a charge of N200,000 ($1,005) for each unregistered customer.

“So, I want to believe that MTN has just seven days left, up until Monday next week to pay the fine, except there is anything to the contrary in the course of talks this week.”
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MTN continues talks with government authorities in Nigeria for a soft landing, a source at MTN, privy to the development, said on Sunday.

MTN Group is trying to reduce a $5.2 billion fine imposed by Nigeria’s telecommunications regulator by as much as 80 per cent and is considering borrowing money from banks to help settle the penalty, said Bloomberg, quoting Renaissance Capital.

“MTN is pushing to reduce the fine by 60 per cent to 80 per cent,” Adesoji Solanke, RenCap’s head of research in Nigeria, said in a note to clients on Wednesday, citing a bank he didn’t identify.

A second lender said that “MTN is considering borrowing from banks, as it recently checked what the banks’ lending capacity to it is,” the analyst said.

“We don’t comment on banking matters and banking regulators in Nigeria are best placed to provide context on these matters,” MTN spokesman, Chris Maroleng, said by phone.



    

BVN willl curb fraud in forex transactions – CBN

Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has maintained that the adoption of Bank Verification Number (BVN) as a condition for the purchase of foreign exchange was expected to reduce the incidence of multiple purchases, round tripping and illicit transfer of funds, facilitate enforcement of authorized limits of forex sales to end users.

Also CBN said, the adoption of BVN as a condition for forex purchase would sanitize the retail segment of the market and engender policies that would facilitate better allocation of the forex, based on genuine demands.

It would be recalled that CBN recently mandated all banks and licensed Bureaux de Change (BDCs) operating in Nigeria to provide BVN as part of the requirement for the sale of foreign exchange to their customers.

The Association of Bureaux De Change Operators of Nigeria (ABCON) had faulted the decision of CBN to make the biometric verification number mandatory requirement for foreign exchange transactions, and called for the harmonization of the different operational guidelines by the CBN and the National Financial Intelligence Units (NFIU), as well as a review of the scope of BDC operations as defined by the CBN guidelines to reflect current market realities.

But CBN in a statement posted on its website last week and signed by its Director, corporate Communications, Ibrahim Mu’azu said, “The BVN is neither a payment instrument nor an account number and therefore could not be used to access any account by unauthorized users. The banks, BDC operators and even regulators use the BVN to validate the identity of a customer using some biometric information such as finger prints and photograph obtained at the point of enrolment.

Akwa Ibom Gov to establish coconut refining factory

In pursuance of his promise to ensure industrial revolution and create jobs for Akwa Ibom State people, Governor Udom Emmanuel, yesterday, said a coconut refining factory was in the offing and would employ no fewer than 350,000 people when operational.

Governor Emmanuel said already, 5,000 hectares of land had been acquired and cleared for the planting of 15,000 seedlings of coconut.

The governor, who spoke at his maiden media parley since assumption of office, explained that he decided to invest in coconut because of its un-quantifiable socio-economic gains and medicinal values.

Besides, he disclosed that arrangements had been concluded for the ground-breaking of meter manufacturing company in the state, promising that the first set of meters from that factory would be rolled out in May 2016.

FG Approves $2.4bn Lagos Red Line Project

After eight years of intense politicking and negotiation, federal government has approved the construction of the $2.4 billion Lagos Red Line Rail Project.

The Lagos State commissioner for Transportation, Dr. Dayo Mobereola who made the disclosure at the weekend in a chat with newsmen said approving the right of way for the project had been a problem for years.

He said the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led federal government in the last administration was foot-dragging in approving the right of way which belonged to the Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC.

According to him, it took Lagos four and a half years to get approval for the project and another four years for discussion on the technicality of the project.

“It took us four and a half years to get approval for the project. It took us another four years to get them to discuss the technicality of the project with us. The right of way has been approved and we are in full discussion with the bidders,” he said.

On the Blue Line Light Rail project, the commissioner stated that the government would complete it by the end of 2016.

He said Lagos was the only state in the world to have embarked on such project without support from the federal government, adding that such projects normally take around seven years to complete.

The commissioner said it took Dubai, with all its resources seven years to complete its rail project and in some places, 22 years.

$5.2 bn Nigerian fine: MTN Appoints Phuthuma Nhleko as Interim CEO

Africa’s MTN Group said on Monday its chief executive will resign immediately as the telecoms firm continued talks with the Nigerian government over a $5.2 billion fine (1.04 trillion naira).

According to Reuters, Sifiso Dabengwa will be replaced by non-executive chairman Phuthuma Nhleko for a maximum of six months, Africa’s biggest mobile phone company said in a statement.

MTN was fined in October by the Nigerian telecoms regulator for failing to cut off users with unregistered SIM cards.

The company said it continued talks with the Nigerian authorities over the fine.

“Due to the most unfortunate prevailing circumstances occurring at MTN Nigeria, I, in the interest of the company and its shareholders, have tendered my resignation with immediate effect,” Dabengwa said in a statement.

MTN said it continued talks with authorities in Nigeria, the company’s biggest market, over the fine.

Dabengwa has been chief executive of MTN since 2011.

Shares in MTN have slid about 17 percent since Oct. 26 to 157 rand by Friday, following news of the charge.

Ratings agencies Moody’s and Fitch lowered MTN’s credit rating outlook to “negative” last month flagging the risk of significant cash outflow and the likely damage to the Nigerian business due to lengthy talks.

MTN said Nhleko, the current non-executive chairperson has agreed to act as executive chairperson for a maximum period of 6 months while the company identifies a successor for Dabengwa.

Nhleko has been with MTN since 2001 when he served as non-executive director and chairperson. From June 2002 he has been an executive director, Group President and CEO until March 2011. He has subsequently chaired the Group in a non-executive capacity for the past two and a half years (29 May 2013).