Naira slides to 338 as dollar scarcity lingers

The naira hit a record low of 338 against the greenback on Friday, a day after the Bankers Committee announced its decision to stop providing foreign exchange for school fees and medical bills payment.

The Bankers Committee had on Thursday announced the decision to include school fees and medical bills among the items that are not valid for forex.

Forex dealers said the continued shortage of forex in the economy and the Bankers Committee’s sudden decision to stop funding school fees and medical bills payment had combined to increase demand for the United States currency.

“The negative perception about the naira, and the demand for forex by importers who have overseas obligations have caused the demand pressure. This has been exacerbated by the recent decision by the banks not to provideforex for school fees medical bills payment,” a forex dealer said under condition of anonymity.

The local currency had closed at 335, 318, 313.5 and 310 on Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday and Monday, respectively.

The CBN has left the official exchange rate unchanged at N197 to the dollar on its official interbank window.

“We see the naira falling further in coming days if the central bank fails to lift the dollar restriction,” the Acting President, Association of Bureau De Change Operators, Aminu Gwadabe, had said.

Tumbling global oil prices have battered Nigeria’s oil-dependent economy, with external reserves down to an 11-year low at $27.89bn on February 9, Reuters reported.

President Muhammadu Buhari is concerned that further depreciation will hurt poor Nigerians, but the CBN’s refusal to revise the pegged exchange rate has widened a chasm between official rate and the parallel market.

Last month, the central bank halted dollar sales to the BDC operators and allowed commercial banks to accept dollar deposits, in a failed effort to shore up dwindling foreign reserves.

Around 90 per cent of the nation’s foreign exchange earnings come from crude oil exports, but mismanagement of the refineries means the country must also import expensive refined fuel.

The Managing Director, Financial Derivatives Company Limited, Mr. Bismarck Rewane, said it was high time the CBN came up with a forex policy that would address the forex crisis confronting the nation.

In an economic note released on Thursday, Rewane said, “Nigerians are perplexed at the endless slide of their currency, which is now trading at N325/$, the lowest point ever.

“This is happening even when the oil price is up at $31pb. The debate as on whether to devalue the naira is not the real issue. The discourse should be whether we need an exchange rate policy or not. The absence of a policy is a recipe for economic anarchy and a race to the bottom.”

$26m Halliburton scam: EFCC quizzes SAN

The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission has stepped up investigations into the Halliburton bribe case.

To this end, the EFCC invited a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mr. Damian Dodo, over his alleged role in the $26m bribery scandal.

A former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Adoke (SAN), and five other lawyers have also been alleged to be involved in the fraud.

According to sources, other suspects in the case will be interrogated next week.

It was learnt that Dodo was questioned by top operatives of the commission for over eight hours on Thursday over his alleged involvement in the case.

Dodo is alleged to have received $4.5m through his firm, DD Dodo and Co. from the multinationals involved in the bribery scandal under the cover of legal fees.

He was also alleged to have withdrawn over $2m in cash, for purposes that the EFCC described as unclear and in flagrant violation of extant money laundering regulations.

However, Dodo denied the allegations levelled against him. He said he and the other lawyers were only paid for their services.

He told Saturday PUNCH that the legal team even recovered over $200m from the multinationals involved in the bribery scandal and should be commended for their noble act.

Dodo said, “We all worked together to recover the huge sum of money from the Halliburton case for the Federal Government. It was not a personal matter but a matter handled by five top Nigerian lawyers.

“We have also made our report available to the Attorney-General of the Federation to show that we have nothing to hide.”

While foreigners who paid the bribes have since been punished by their respective countries, the beneficiaries from Nigeria have yet to be fished out and sanctioned.

But barely two weeks after the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, indicated that the major corruption cases in the country had not been closed, the Federal Government has moved to unveil and punish the suspects.

Malami had dismissed the notion that President Muhammadu Buhari was afraid of taking up the Halliburton and Siemens bribery cases because the key suspects were top military leaders.

The AG had said that Buhari is not a man who could be restrained by fear from doing what is right and in the overall best interest of Nigerians that he has sworn to defend and protect from harm’s way.

Malami said, “The idea of fear does not come in at all as far as this President is concerned in the fight against graft. Don’t forget that whatever Mr. President does is guided by the rule of law and available evidence.

“It must be noted however that no extraneous influence can influence our actions as we move to fight corruption in all its ramifications.

“To be noted also is the clear fact that no criminal case can be closed once the facts are handy, regardless of who is involved.

The Halliburton case relates to an alleged $182m contract involving a four-company joint venture to build a liquefied natural gas plant on Bonny Island. Earlier in 2009, KBR, a former subsidiary of Halliburton, agreed to pay $402m after admitting that it bribed Nigerian officials, and Halliburton paid $177m to settle allegations by the US Securities and Exchange Commission without admitting any wrongdoing.

In mid-December 2010, the case was settled when Nigeria agreed to drop the corruption charges against the company’s former boss, Dick Cheney (and former US Vice-President); and Halliburton in exchange for a $250m settlement.

However, no Nigerian official involved in the scandal has been jailed.

Speaking with our correspondent, the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee on Corruption, Prof. Itse Sagay (SAN), lamented that the case of Halliburton had taken too long.

Sagay said the probe lingered because Nigeria had incompetent attorneys-general that had succeeded in burying evidence.

The senior advocate said there was no reason why the EFCC could not successfully prosecute the suspects involved since other countries involved, such as the US and Germany, had jailed their own citizens.

He said, “All those involved in the US have been sanctioned and the company has had to pay a huge fine. We have a list of those involved and there is nothing stopping us from charging them to court.”

Nigeria Projects 4.2% GDP Growth By 2017

The Federal Government has projected 4.2 per cent growth in the country’s Gross Domestic Product, (GDP), by 2017.

Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, made this projection when she addressed Chief Financial Officers, (CFOs), at the just concluded KPMG Professional Services CFO Forum and Survey Launch held in Lagos.

Mrs Adeosun speaking in her presentation on the theme: Outlook of the Nigerian Economy, noted that the country’s GDP for 2015 was the lowest in the last 15 years, at an average of 4 per cent.

“Nigeria GDP, growth from 2005 to 2010 was at an average of 9 per cent, and everybody was trying to announce about Nigeria saying, how fantastically we have been doing with great money in the economy,” she added.

Drop Calls: NCC to sanction telcoms operators defrauding Nigerians

Prof. Umar Danbatta, Executive Vice-Chairman, Nigerian Communications Commissions (NCC), on Friday, said the Commission would sanction telecommunication operators who defrauded Nigerians through dropped-calls.

Danbatta said this during a meeting with newsmen from the North West, North Central and FCT in Kano, where he presented the commission’s eight-point agenda.

According to him, dropped-call rate is the fraction of the telephone calls which due to technical reasons, are cut off before the speaking parties finish their conversation.

This, he said, were being used by some telecom providers to deduct money from phone users as the fraction was usually measured as a percentage of all calls.

He said that the Commission had put in place mechanisms to ensure regulatory excellence and operational efficiency to maintain commitment to transparency.

Danbatta explained that part of the measures was for NCC to monitor calls, adding that any call that was not a dropped-call and was charged would be detected and the telecom provider sanctioned.

He added that “there is a limit to which a call can be dropped.

“We have put in place parametres to monitor what is happening, especially as regards drop calls, this will locate the operator to ensure that they maintain standards.

“When these parametres are analysed, we will be able to detect the drop calls from service providers and the operator’s attention will be drawn to enable it to address the problem.

“If we do not notice any sign of improvement on dropped call rates, then we will sanction erring operators.”

The NCC boss said operators should know that they were being monitored by NCC and that the day of reckoning when their activities would be made public was around the corner.

Danbatta, however, assured the public that the issue of monitoring the cognitive performance indicators was key to NCC, adding that consumers’ right would be protected.

He said erring operators would be identified and necessary regulatory action would be taken in order to improve the quality of service to Nigerians.

He urged Nigerians to utilise the Commission’s 622 call number to send their complaints for the purpose of resolving them.

He reiterated the Commission’s resolve to continue to promote and empower consumers from unfair practices through the availability of information and education required to make informed choices in the use of ICT services.

Danbatta further said that the Commission was working on ways to improve data access in the country, even though the facility to support the project was not adequate yet.

“We are working on plans to improve data access in Nigeria and it is captured in the eight-point agenda of the Commission”.

This, he said, would ensure that at least services were available, accessible and affordable to consumers.

He expressed the hope that access to the Internet would be free in Nigeria in the nearest future.

Nigeria To Expand Stock Exchange Range To Lure Investors

 The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) is looking to attract investors spooked by a weak currency and oil price by offering more products ahead of a possible listing.

“We would like to give exposure to asset classes that we are not necessarily trading,” a former Wall Street executive who returned home like many Nigerians to tap opportunities in Africa’s biggest economy, Oscar Onyema, told Reuters.

Onyema said that the NSE, one of the main entry points for foreign funds into Africa, plans to launch a clearing house to allow futures and options trading this year.
“It will also change its ownership structure this year, a move that might bring in investors from abroad or lead to a share offer at some stage later,” Onyema told Reuters in an interview at the bourse located in the commercial hub of Lagos.

The exchange, which has been hit by an exodus of foreign investors due to an economic crisis sparked by a slump in oil revenues, saw the total market capitalisation of companies listed there halve to around $42 billion from $86.3 billion in 2007 when the market was booming. Daily trading has dropped on average to less than $10 million, down from $100 million in 2007, brokers say.

“It now plans to add options to its portfolio of products to boost this flagging liquidity and help investors manage risk. To reach that goal, Africa’s second-largest bourse, after Johannesburg, launched a clearing house which will be independent and will have banks, the central bank, and other stock exchanges as members,” the Harvard graduate said.

Onyema also said that the bourse was on track to change its ownership structure this year from a mutual firm of 500 broker members to add shareholders with the aim of improving governance and possibly to open up new funding sources, including the possibility of a share offer.

Traders, Buyers Decry Hike In Prices Of Palm Oil

Some traders and buyers of palm oil at the Mile 12 Market, Lagos State, on Friday decried the hike in the prices of the commodity.

They told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos that the increment was due to the restriction placed of imported palm oil.

NAN reports that a 20-litre keg of palm oil now sells for N6, 500, as against the N6, 000 it attracted earlier in the year.

The check also indicated that the price per bottle had also increased from N200 to N250.

Mrs Tola Adewale, a palm oil trader at the market, said that buyers were complaining about the price hike, occasioned by the scarcity of the commodity.

Adewale, however, said that there would a be likely drop in the price from next month when the market would be flooded with the commodity.

“This is not the season for mass production of palm oil. That is why our customers are feeling the effects of the scarcity now.

“The season for its mass production will start in March.

“Now, the price fluctuates between N6, 000 and N6, 500 for the a-20 litre keg, which we used to sell at N5, 500 or even N5, 000,’’ Adewale said.

Another palm oil trader at the Ketu Market, Mr Jude Ike, said that the restriction on importation by the Nigeria Customs Service, (NCS) was affecting the availability of the commodity.

Ike said that he was particularly happy about the situation, stating that the order would promote local production.

“I will say it is a welcome development that the NSC would restrict the importation of palm oil from the neighbouring countries.

“This step will improve and boost our local production of the produce; but the commodity is lacking in the market now.

“The price has gone up because of this and we wish that the production of palm oil in Nigeria will increase also, the season is beginning anytime from now,’’ Ike said.

CBN ignore calls for devaluation of the naira

 The Central Bank says it is not against devaluing the naira, but says should it come, it will be on the strength of a strong industrial policy.

Speaking at a Colloqium in Lagos, CBN's Director of Monetary Policy, Moses Tule accused currency speculators of being determined to put severe pressure on the monetary authorities in order to ensure that the CBN further devalued the naira.

 He said the apex bank will continue to manage the economy and would do anything to protect it from economic predators who want to make profit from devaluing the naira. 

 On his part, economic Analyst, Bismarck Rewane said the upside of devaluation of the naira is that it will make some imported goods be so expensive, leading to the emergency of local substitutes which will stimulate domestic production.

SEC says Investors to receive dividends in 24 hours

The Security and Exchange Commission says investors in the Nigerian Capital market are now to get dividend payment within 24 hours through the e-Dividend Payment Platform, making it the first in the history of any capital market in Africa.

Director General of Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Mounir Gwarzo, who made the disclosure at the e-Dividend Sensitisation Town Hall Meeting in Lagos, Thursday, said the proposed system will automatically allow dividends to be credited directly into shareholders' accounts within 24 hours of payment by the company.

Gwarzo stated that this was one of the initiatives being implemented by the Commission as part of its 10 year Capital Market Master Plan to encourage retail investors to return to the market and thereby deepen the market.

The DG assured that once the e-dividend platform is fully operational the issue of stale warrant will be of the past, while emphasising that the only way to attract retail investors back to the market is to ensure that concrete steps are taken to adequately address their concerns.

Stocks Rally By 0.64% As NSE Market Capitalisation Increases By N54bn

he equities market closed today on a positive note, as NSE ASI appreciated by 0.64% to close at 24,135.40basis points, compared with the 0.02% appreciation recorded previously. Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns currently stands at -15.73%

Market breadth closed positive as FCMB led 20gainers against 14losers topped by UNILEVER at the end of today’s session- an improved performance when compared with previous outlook as the market capitalisation, which opened at N8.246 trillion, rose by N54 billion to close at N8.300 trillion.

Also, the All-Share Index appreciated by 154.31 points or 0.64 per cent to close at 24,135.40 against 23,977.10 recorded on Tuesday.

Breakdown of the gainers’ table indicated that Seplat topped the table with a gain of N10 to close at N260 per share.

NIMASA to tackle menace of litters on waterways.

 The Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency  has reiterated its commitment to ensure a safe marine environment by tackling the menace of marine litters in the nation’s territorial waters.

Acting Director General of the agency, Haruna  Jauro said this during a stakeholders’ forum on marine litter management organised in Lagos by the United Nations Environmental Programme Global Partnership Action  and NIMASA.

Jauro said marine litters have become a menace which must be tackled with all seriousness and  this is the reason NIMASA has partnered with UNEP-GPA to tackle the scourge.

He said the management of the marine environment remain a critical component of ensuring safe and secure shipping and that NIMASA will continue to implement relevant IMO instruments in line with the agency’s mandate.

Fashola: Higher electricity tariff a painful pill we must swallow

 Babatunde Fashola, minister of power, works and housing, has appealed to Nigerians to accept the new electricity tariff, describing it as “a painful pill that must be swallowed”.

Speaking in Lagos on Monday while inspecting some projects at the Alagbon Transmission and Distribution Complex, Fashola said the past government ought to have introduced that the new price regime.

He begged the public for understanding, saying the people will soon start seeing the reward of the additional charges. “It is a painful pill that I appeal we must swallow. It is like quinine and malaria, which is painful; it’s not sweet, I know, but I do it because we are not left with many choices,” he said. “I can only appeal for some understanding and some trust that we do this in the best interest of our country.

It is a hard decision; this is the first major decision in power that this administration has taken. “I understand that people who have been disappointed over a long time will feel a sense of concern that again tariffs have gone up. But the truth is that these tariffs ought to have been there from day one.

Dangote Group Struggles With “Extremely Tight” Forex Supply

Dangote Group, Nigeria’s largest company, is struggling with a constricted supply of foreign-exchange in the West African country and is relying on its international cement operations and export-credit agencies to get around the shortage.

“The forex situation is extremely tight in Nigeria,” Group Executive Director Devakumar Edwin said in an e-mailed response to questions on Wednesday. “But Dangote Cement is already generating income in foreign exchange in Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Senegal and Cameroon. Further, we are also making financing arrangements through export-credit agencies for the first time.”

About $10 million is sold daily in the official market, aside from the central bank sales, which is too low to meet demand, Razia Khan, Standard Chartered Plc’s chief Africa economist, said in a report on Monday.

The company owned by Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, is seeking to increase sales and protect market share at its cement unit in Nigeria amid weaker demand, while expanding elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.

Edwin said the company will build two new plants in Nigeria within three years that will add nine million metric tons annually, increasing total capacity to 38 million tons.

OPEC: Nigeria’s oil output below budget mark

There are more troubles for the 2016 budget as the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) has said that Nigeria’s oil production levels fell below the budget target.

According to OPEC, Nigeria produced an average of 1.95 million barrels per day in January 2016, as against the 2.2 million target set by the 2016 budget. With a shortfall of 250,000 barrels per day, Nigeria’s oil revenue target fell by $7.5 million per day (at $30 per barrel), translating to $232.5 million in January.

Although the country’s production levels fell below 2016 targets, it was an improvement of the 2015 production of 1.7 million barrels per day. For the month of January, OPEC contributed over 1.3 million barrels to the world oil oversupply, with Nigeria contributing to the oversupply. “According to secondary sources, total OPEC crude oil production in January averaged 32.33 mb/d, an increase of 131 tb/d over the previous month,”

OPEC said in its oil market report released on Wednesday. “Crude oil output increased mostly from Nigeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Iran, while production showed a decrease of from Angola, Venezuela and Algeria.”

FG spends N825bn on travel allowances, stationery, others in 3 years —Finance ministry

 THE Federal Government spent N825 billion in three years on travels, maintenance, local and international training, welfare and stationery/computer consumables.

Disclosing this, yesterday, Head of the Efficiency Unit, set up by the Ministry of Finance to streamline government overhead expenditure, Patience Oniha, said from the study of government overhead expenditure it carried out between 2012 and 2014, 60 per cent of Federal Government’s overhead expenditure were, on the average, incurred through local and international travels, maintenance, local and international training, welfare, office stationery and consumables, honourarium and sitting allowance, meals and refreshment and books.

Sudan inflation eases to 12.44 in January amid lower oil prices

 Sudan's annual inflation rate eased slightly to 12.44 percent in January from 12.58 percent in December, a monthly report from Sudan's Central Statistics Office said on Wednesday, partly due to cheaper global oil prices.

Sudan became an oil importer after South Sudan seceded in 2011. The new nation took with it three-quarters of Sudan's oil output, the main source of foreign currency used to support the Sudanese pound and to pay for food and other imports.

Cuts in fuel subsidies introduced in 2013 pushed up inflation, but these effects have since begun to ease.

In December, the Sudanese pound ($0.1647) fell to its lowest on the parallel market since 2011, currency traders said, as the official banking system struggled to supply dollars needed to buy imports. The pound has hovered around the same level in January.

Sudan expects a budget deficit of 1.6 percent of GDP for the coming year, up from 1.2 percent for 2015.

Rwanda's inflation unchanged at 4.5 pct in January: stats office

Rwanda's year-on-year inflation was unchanged at 4.5 percent in January compared to the previous month, its statistics office said on Wednesday.

The urban rate of inflation decreased by 0.5 percent on a monthly basis, the National Institute of Statistics of Rwanda said on its website. The annual average rate between January 2016 and January 2015 was 2.8 percent, it added.

Tunisia's annual inflation rate falls in January to 3.5 pct

 Tunisia's annual inflation rate fell in January to 3.5 percent from 4.1 percent in December, official data showed on Wednesday.

Tunisia's central bank in October cut its main interest rate to 4.25 percent from 4.75 percent to boost economic growth, as inflation fell.

The inflation rate was 4.9 percent in 2015 against 5.5 percent in 2014.

Ghana's consumer inflation rises to 19.0 pct in Jan

Ghana's annual consumer price inflation rose to 19.0 percent in January from 17.7 percent the month before, the statistics office said on Wednesday.

The West African nation is implementing a three-year aid programme with the International Monetary Fund in an attempt to restore macro-economic balance in the face of problems including inflation persistently above government targets.

Don’t Run Power Ministry The Way You Ran Lagos – CACOL Blasts Fashola

The Coalition Against Corrupt Leaders, on Tuesday, decried the recent hike in electricity tariff by the Federal Government.
According to CACOL, the increase would amount to a corrupt practice to force the tariff increase on people.

“We note that in spite of public outcry against any hike, the Ministry of Works, Power and Housing superintended upon by Mr Babatunde Fashola, former governor of Lagos State, has gone ahead to illegally impose a tariff hike on electricity on Nigerians for services not rendered to them. This is flagrant and audacious corruption in a situation where the Federal Government claims to be fighting against corruption and illegality.

“Mr Babatunde Fashola should be told that the ministry he superintends over is not meant for the kind of antics that he got away with in Lagos State when he was governor,” the Executive Chairman of CACOL, Mr Debo Adeniran, said.
According to him, it was the nation’s electricity firms and the National Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) that owed Nigerians money and apologies for not rendering adequate services that they received money for and continued to receive money for.

“Therefore, we reject this hike in electricity tariff in totality. We demand that power supply should be made available and accessible to all and a billing system that will be transparent, reasonable and commensurate with consumption should be provided.

Rats invade' Nigeria budget documents

Shortly after President Muhammadu Buhari submitted his first budget in December last year, tagged “Budget of Change”, some Nigerians began pointing out some strange allocations.

These include the amount to be spent on software and computers for some ministries and agencies, as well as allocations for the purchase of cars for the presidential villa.

Others have highlighted multiple entries for the same department, especially in the education ministry.

While defending his ministry’s budget, Health Minister Issac Odewale disowned what was presented to the parliament, saying some “rats” had smuggled foreign items into the document originally prepared.

He is believed to have been referring to some civil servants.

Kogi DPR Seals 10 Petrol Station

The Kogi State Department of Petroleum Resources (DPR) has sealed-off 10 fuel stations for over pricing and illegal operations.

The State Controller of the DPR, Amos Jokodola, led the team along with some members of his staff to Ayingba in Dekina Local Government Area of the state on Wednesday.

Mr Jokodola said that the DPR would longer tolerate marketers, who had formed the habit of inflating prices of fuel, or a fuel station operating without licenses.

Daira Oil Nigeria Limited was the first to be inspected and was found guilty of over pricing and under delivering, causing customers to lose one liter of fuel in every ten liters. It was later sealed off.

Daejo Oil Nigeria Limited was equally found guilty of the same offense despite getting 33,000 of the product directly from the deport.

The owner of the station, Isah Ocheja, explained the reasons for selling beyond the price.

Salag Resources Limited and Maphine Limited were also sealed for hording while Lawharris Limited and Yusham Nigeria Limited were sealed for operating without valid license.

At the end of the operation, the Controller said that fines would be paid.

Lagos shuts six firms over N32.17m tax evasion

The Lagos State Internal Revenue Service (LIRS) has shut six companies for failure to remit a total of N32.17 million deducted as personal income tax of their employees to the state government.

Mrs Ajibike Oshodi-Sholola, the Head, Distrain Unit of LIRS, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday.

Oshodi-Sholola said that the companies were audited by LIRS about one to five years ago, but the companies had not been meeting their tax obligations to the state till date.

She said that the period of the tax liabilities of the companies were from 2009 to 2013.

She said that LIRS went to court and obtained an order to seal the companies since they refused to pay these taxes after many years of been audited.

She said that tax payment was a civic responsibility of everyone and that companies had no reason for not remitting taxes of workers to the government.

According to her, the affected companies are into communication, security management, shipping and pharmaceutical, among others.

Oshodi-Sholola, however, advised that companies could contest or object to tax liabilities given to them within time allowed for consideration by the service.

Dollar scarcity worsens in Nigeria as naira falls, stocks up

Nigeria’s naira fell on the parallel market on Wednesday on strong demand for dollars from importers amid dwindling liquidity, while stock index climbed to 24,000 points for the first time in almost a month.

The local currency eased to 318 to the dollar on the parallel market, having closed at 312 the previous day. At the official interbank window the naira was stable around 197.

“We have demand coming from importers (paying) …their due obligations, while dollar supply has dried up,” said Aminu Gwadabe, head of the association of bureau de change operators.

Africa’s top crude exporter currency has been under pressure on the back of falling global oil price, with Nigeria’s foreign exchange reserves down to a more than 11-year low.

The main stock exchange index gained 0.64 percent to 24,135 points, its highest since Jan 8, when it fell to 23,000 points from around 27,000.

Gains in the shares of petroleum firms Seplat and Mobil help lifted the market, rising between 4 percent and 5 percent.

NSE Index Appreciates Marginally As Sterling Bank, Unilever, Mobil Top Gainers

The All-Share Index of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday recorded marginal growth, appreciating by 0.02 per cent increasing by 3.99 points to close at 23,981.01 compared with 23,977.10 posted on Monday.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation grew by N1 billion to close at N8.247 trillion against N8.246 trillion recorded on Monday.

The market recorded 19 gainers today led by Sterling Bank with a gain of N0.14 or 8.19 per cent to N1.85 followed by Unilever with a gain of N1.59 or 4.99 per cent to close at N33.43 while Mobil gained N6.99 or 4.82 per cent to close at N152.00 per share.

Seplat grew by N5 to close at N250 per share while Unilever improved by N1.59 to close at N33.43 and Nigerian Breweries gained 86k to close at N96.06 per share.

On the other hand, UACN led the losers’ chart with a loss of N1.30 to close at N19.86 per share.

ETI came second having dipped 70k to close at N15, while Union Bank lost 17k to close at N5.05 per share.

Read more at http://www.theheraldng.com/nse-index-appreciates-marginally-by-0-02-as-sterling-bank-unilever-mobil-top-gainers/#xBvMSfxkaBhjeCME.99

Refineries To Restart Production February Ending

 

 Nigeria’s refineries are expected to resume production before the end of February after attacks on their feedstock pipelines forced their closure in January, the head of refining at the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, said yesterday.

The oil company halted crude flows to the refineries around mid-January after suspected militants blew up vital pipelines feeding the plants. The refineries were shut down few days later by the NNPC.

The 150,000 barrel per day (bpd) Port Harcourt refinery is expected to restart its crude distillation unit on Saturday after receiving crude supplies by sea to be followed by a resumption in pipeline supplies.

“The Warri refinery has no crude. It will take close to 10 days to pile up crude stock and for Kaduna maybe we’re another five days away after that”, Dennis Ajulu, executive director of refining and technology at the NNPC, told Reuters.

Naira drops to 313.5 as dollar shortage persists

The naira dropped further to 313.5 against the United States dollar at the parallel market on Tuesday as shortage of foreign exchange, especially the greenback, persists in the forex markets.

The local currency had traded for 310 to a dollar on Monday.

On Tuesday, the naira closed at 199.40 to the dollar on the interbank market, according to Reuters, around the peg rate of 197 to the dollar.

This came just as the interbank lending rate rose to two per cent from one per cent on Monday, after the Central Bank of Nigeria had directed commercial banks to fund their naira accounts ahead of its intervention in the forex market on Thursday.

The overnight lending rates jumped by 100 basis points as the movement of naira cash for forex purchases drained liquidity in the financial market.

The CBN intervenes once a week at the interbank forex market to provide dollar liquidity for some eligible importers.

The naira had plummeted against the dollar last month after the CBN banned dollar sales to Bureau De Change outlets and later stopped daily sales to the interbank market.

U.S. investors to exploit opportunities in Nigeria’s food processing, mining sectors -- Economist

A U.S-based economist, Ms. Munat Roberts, says some United States investors will soon visit Nigeria to explore investment opportunities in the food processing, mining, and health sectors.

Roberts, who is the Chairperson, West Coast Economic Summit (WCES),  also told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Tuesday in Abuja that the investors would seek to take advantage of opportunities in infrastructure development and housing.

She said that the coming of the investors was part of deliberate efforts to attract foreign investment to the country.