Nigeria govt revenue falls 21.5 pct in March due to oil outages

Nigeria's gross government revenue fell 21.5 percent to 315.04 billion naira ($2 billion) in March due to trunk and pipeline shutdowns and lower earnings from the non-oil sector, the accountant general said.

Accountant General of the Federation Jonah Otunla, told Journalists that Nigeria distributed a total 435.06 billion naira to local, state and federal government for the month of March compared with 522.05 billion naira shared in February.

FAAC constitutes panel over unremitted $1.48bn by NNPC

Worried by the inability of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation to pay the $1.48bn into the federation account as directed by PriceWaterHouse Coopers in its forensic audit of the corporation, the Federation Account Allocation Committee on Monday constituted a committee to find out the reasons for the delay in making the funds available to the three tiers of government.

PriceWaterHouse was last year hired to carry out the exercise following an allegation by the former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Lamido Sanusi, that $20bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

Sanusi, who is now the Emir of Kano, had written a letter to President Goodluck Jonathan that $49bn was not remitted to the Federation Account by the NNPC.

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Ecobank proposes bonus issue after pretax profit rises 144 per cent

Pan-African banking group Ecobank said on Monday its 2014 pretax profit rose 144 percent year-on-year to N86.44 billion ($434 million).

Revenue also rose to N489.25 billion from N411.18 billion the previous year, the bank said in a statement, and also proposed a bonus issue of one for every five shares.

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Forex reserve plunges further to six months import cover

THE plummeting profile of the foreign exchange reserves, which has been a constant feature since the beginning of the year, has finally hit 2010 record low to $29.3 billion from $29.8 billion of the previous week.

The downward trend, which has been riding on the back of falling international oil prices and the resolve by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to defend the naira, has already resulted to about $5 billion loss, representing 16.9 per cent in 2015.

In a report from Afrinvest Securities Limited, titled: “Nigerian Reserves at Record Low…Time to Float the Naira?,” it showed that declines were at their highest on February 16 and 23  at 1.2 per cent each, which correspond to the postponement of the elections and shutdown of the Retail Dutch Auction System (RDAS) respectively.

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Nigeria's Zenith Bank says Q1 pretax profit rises 14.5 pct

Nigeria's Zenith Bank said on Monday its first quarter pretax profit rose 14.5 percent year-on-year to 33.12 billion naira ($166 million).

Turnover also rose to 113.32 billion naira compared with 94.32 billion naira the previous year, the bank said in a statement without giving a reason for the increase in earnings.

Nigeria's Sterling Bank says Q1 pretax profit rises 14 pct

 

Nigeria's Sterling Bank said on Monday its first quarter pretax profit rose 14 percent year-on-year to 4.04 billion naira ($20 million).



Revenue also rose to 27.22 billion naira in the three months to end-March from 24.71 billion naira last year, the bank said in a statement without giving a reason for the rise in earnings.

Mali gold reserves estimated at 600 tonnes in 2015: ministry

Mali's gold reserves are estimated at about 600 tonnes as of 2015, an equivalent of 12 years of production at the current rate of some 50 tonnes per year, data from the West African nation's mines ministry showed on Monday.

Mali is Africa's third biggest gold producer behind South Africa and Ghana. The precious metal is Mali's top foreign exchange earner.

Nine companies including Randgold Resources, Anglogold Ashanti, IamGold and Resolute Mining operate in the country.