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Summary of the top business, economic and political news in Nigeria today.
- The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) yesterday intervened in the inter-bank Foreign Exchange market to the tune of 413.5 million dollars to further shore up the international value of the Naira. Link
- The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said that Nigeria generated the sum of N204.77 billion as Value Added Tax (VAT) in the first quarter of 2017. According to the report, the decline in the amount generated represented 1.25 per cent decrease quarter-on-quarter. Link
- Nigeria plans to sell a 100 billion naira ($328 mln) debut sovereign sukuk in the local market this month to help fund road projects, the Debt Management Office (DMO) said on Tuesday. The Islamic bond with a 7-year tenor will go on sale on June 28 for three days via book building, the DMO said. The bond will be tradable on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and on FMDQ over-the-counter platform. Link
- The federal government is again contemplating inviting the original builders of the three refineries operated by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) in Kaduna, Warri and Port Harcourt, to undertake their planned restoration to their nameplate capacities, the Minister of State for Petroleum, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, has disclosed. Link
- The FCT Administration has inaugurated a taskforce to recover about N1.8 billion owed the FCT Water Board by residents. The FCT Permanent Secretary, represented by the Director, Human Resources Management, Hajiya Amina Abubakar, said all leakages in the collection of revenue will not be condoned but viewed with seriousness and requested for weekly updates by the taskforce to be made to the special assistant (projects) to the permanent secretary. Link
- The Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo, on Monday reeled out statistics to show that despite challenges, the Nigerian economy was improving. He said that the first quarter GDP estimated at -0.52 per cent compared favourably with -2.06 per cent in the first quarter of 2016. He also said that inflation was declining to 17.24 per cent from 18.74 per cent as at May 2016. Mr. Osinbajo also observed that the country’s external reserves rose to $30.28 billion as at June 8, 2017 from $26.59 billion as at May 31, 2016. “We are also gradually instilling confidence in our exchange rate regime.” he added. Link
- The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission on Monday threatened to dissolve the boards of the electricity distribution companies over their continued poor performance since they took over the successor firms to the defunct Power Holding Company of Nigeria more than three years ago. Link
- The Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) has said that the 2011 Presidential Directive to reduce agencies operating at the ports to eight still subsists. A statement by the Principal Manager, Public Affairs of NPA, Mr Ibrahim Nasiru, on Tuesday in Lagos, listed the eight approved agencies which are: Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigeria Police, Department of State Service (DSS), Nigeria Immigration Service (NIS) and Port Health. He also stated that the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) had been approved to operate at the ports. Link
- The Minister for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachukwu has granted Lekoil Limited consent to complete the transfer of the original 17.14 percent participating interest that the company acquired in Oil Prospective License, OPL 310, in February 2013, to Mayfair Assets and Trust, a subsidiary of Lekoil. Link
- Importers and clearing agents have condemned the imposition of pollution levy by the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA). They see it as double taxation by two government agencies and, therefore, urged the Federal Government to cancel it. Link
- The federal government has spent a whopping N7.1 trillion on debt servicing alone in the last eight years. The figure is cumulative of the amount spent on retirement of domestic and foreign loans incurred by the federal government between 2010 and 2017, but excludes statutory transfers. Link
- Financial Market Derivative Quote (FMDQ) Over the Counter, OTC, has returned to its bullish volume in the month of May 2017, recording a total transaction value of N9.49 trillion, representing a growth of 7.32 per cent from N8.79 trillion in April. Link
- Senior Special Assistant to the President on Foreign Affairs and Diaspora Abike Dabiri-Erewa has urged Nigerians to take advantage of the first ever 300 million dollars Diaspora bond. Dabiri-Erewa, who made the call, on Monday, in Abuja, in a statement by her Media Assistant, Mr. Abdurrahman Balogun, asked Nigerians to buy into the offer. Link
- Egypt’s investment bank, EFG Hermes is seeking to enter Nigeria through an acquisition, the CEO of EFG Hermes’ Frontier market Unit, Ali Khalpey, has said. Link
- Anchoria Asset Management has been awarded a licence by the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nigeria. This licence grants the company legal rights to perform the function of a fund/portfolio manager in the capital market with immediate effect. Link
- The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, yesterday, said it supplied 689 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, mmscfd to power plants in the country in the month of March 2017, an equivalent of 3,056 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Link
- In order to guard against further foreign exchange (forex) losses, Lafarge Africa Plc has hedged $300 million with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in non-deliverable Futures contracts just as it plans to float N140 billion Rights Issue to reduce its initial hard currency exposure. Link
- Air Peace Airline management has said the airline is yet to quantify its losses that run into millions of naira following the disruption of its early weekend flight operations at Akanu Ibiam International Airport, Enugu by the airport management, which erroneously stopped the airline from processing passengers at their check-in counter over what it called the airline’s indebtedness to Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria, FAAN. Link
- A House of Representatives panel has summoned the chief executive officers of MTN, Glo, Airtel, Etisalat and Intel to appear before it tomorrow over the massive job losses in the telecoms sector. Link
- The suspended former Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Appropriation, Rep. Abdulmumin Jibrin, has been invited by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Jibrin’s invitation is based on his allegations on budget padding against the leadership of the House and to answer questions concerning money looted through padding in the 2016 budget. Link
