All the major economic news from Nigeria in 5 minutes – 16/6/2017

Summary of the top business, economic and political news in Nigeria today.

1. Acting president, Yemi Osinbajo, says refineries in the country have not lived up to expectations because they are government-owned. “Government cannot just go and be setting up refineries. If government sets up refineries and uses its people to run it, it won’t work. We have good examples in all the refineries that we have seen,” he said. Link
2. The ban on imported packaged sugar into the country by the Federal Government has not been lifted, the Executive Secretary/CEO, National Sugar Development Council (NSDC), Latif Busari  has said. He advised importers of sugar to either produce in Nigeria or move their products elsewhere, saying this position is in line with Section 9.3.1 (1V) of the Nigeria Sugar Master Plan as approved. Link
3. The Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) has developed an e-clearance system, in a bid to ensure that its quality control and standardisation measures do not delay regulated goods coming into the country. Link
4. The Senate on Thursday raised the alarm over an imminent blackout in the northern part of the country due to zero gas supply to the 215 megawatts Kaduna power plant, adding that the development had led to a shutdown of the industrial sector in the region. Link
5. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN on Thursday said it would hold a special Open Market Operation (OMO) operation to further check inflation in the economy as a result of pressures on the value of the Naira. The operation would involve mopping up of about N200.322 billion from the Nigerian banking system at the rate of 16 per cent per annum. Link
6. The operators in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises sector of the economy are asking for the establishment of a new development finance institution that can cater to the needs of micro enterprises. The President, Nigerian Association of Small and Medium Enterprise Farmers Cooperatives, Dr. Adams Adebayo, noted that the forex window did not benefit micro enterprises as most of them sourced their inputs locally. Link
7. The Central Securities Clearing Systems Plc’s assets as of December 31, 2016 were worth N27.13bn. The company described 2016 as a challenging financial year, as it recorded a 38.61 per cent dip in gross earnings from N7.6bn to N6.17bn. Link
8. The Federal Government lost over (about N475.8 billion) to the granting of tax waivers under the pioneer status scheme to oil and gas companies in the upstream sector between 2009 and 2016. Specifically, the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) put the figure at $1.17 billion between 2009 and 2014. But between 2014 and 2016, the figure rose to $1.56 billion. Link
9. Deposit Money Banks in the country have raised a total of N26bn in line with their commitment to provide equity funding for agro-based Small and Medium-scale Enterprises. Link
10. The European Commission yesterday announced a support package of €143 million for the early recovery and reconstruction needs in Borno State. The package is meant to ameliorate the suffering from a worsening humanitarian crisis in the state. Link
11. The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) has endorsed the move by the Federal Government to sack those teaching in public schools without professional certificates by 2018. Link
12. The federal government has launched a tax enlightenment campaign to canvass tax payments at mosques, churches, markets and other public places. Speaking while launching the scheme, titled; Nigerian Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme (VAIDS), the Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun said the project will engage 7500 young Nigerians through the N-Power portal. Link
13. The Federal Government, yesterday, ruled out total deregulation of the downstream sector of the petroleum industry. Link
14. The West Africa Gas Pipeline (WAPCo) has embarked on alternative source of transporting gas from Republic of Benin, which is gradually becoming an oil-producing country, for other West African countries. It was gathered that WAPCo has begun talks with Dangote Refinery to buy gas to bridge an estimated 300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day (mmscfd) deficit in Ghana by the year 2020, which has dire consequences for power generation in Ghana. Link
15. A lokoja High Court has reserved judgment till June 29, in a suit by Kogi State government against Globacom Nigeria Ltd. The government sued Globacom for its alleged refusal to settle an outstanding tax balance of over N222 million to its internal revenue service. Link
16. NIPCO Plc has approved new appointments in the company including the elevation of the former Managing Director, Mr Venkataraman Venkatapathy to the position of Group Managing Director [GMD]. Mr Sanjay Teotia is now the Managing Director of the company while the former Executive Director, Corporate Services, Alhaji Abdulkadir Aminu is now Group Executive Director [GED], Corporate Services. The appointments followed the successful acquisition of ExxonMobil 60% equity in Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc by NIPCO and now the majority shareholder of the company. Link
17. Julius Berger Nigeria Plc, for the first time in over two decades of operation in the country did not smile home with dividend pay-outs. The company recorded N3.7 billion loss in its 2016 financial year made public yesterday at the its 47th Annual General Meeting in Abuja. The N3.7 billion losses are against the N2.8 billion profits it recorded in the 2015 financial year. It also declared a zero dividend of 2.68 basic earnings per share as against the 2.01 earnings per share in 2015. Link
18. PAN Nigeria Limited has completed work on a new model of Peugeot 301 and is set to launch it as 301 Midlife. The company said the redesign of the luxury sedan was in line with its promise of giving its customers in Nigeria the latest of automobiles being manufactured by its parent company in France in order to keep pace with the rest of the world. Link
19. JetWest airline will begin operation in Nigeria’s troubled aviation industry in December, its officials have said. The aviation industry has sunk into turbulence since the recession which has driven up costs and made foreign currency scarce in an industry that is forex dependent. However, a Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) official said yesterday the agency is unaware of an application from JetWest. Link
20. The management of FBN Holdings Plc on Thursday said it was targeting a Non-performing Loans (NPL) ratio of less than 20 per cent for the financial year ending Dec. 31, 2017.  The Managing Director of the company, Mr. UK Eke, said that the company’s NPL would be less than 20 per cent by second quarter of 2017 against 26 per cent in the first quarter. Link
21. The federal government has recovered N13 billion pension liabilities from NICON Insurance Limited as part of efforts to recover all pension intervention funds paid to insurance companies before the Pension Reform Act, 2014. Link
22. Shoprite Nigeria has reaffirmed its commitment to local products with its ‘Made- in-Nigeria’initiative, which has benefited producers and customers. The majority of products sold by Shoprite are sourced within the country. By pledging to stock more local produce across its 23 stores, Shoprite is highlighting its commitment to the economic  growth. Link
23. Telecoms company, Etisalat Nigeria has said on Friday that it is working with its lenders and Abu Dhabi state investment fund Mubadala, the second-largest shareholder in the business, to resolve debt woes it said were caused by a devaluation of the naira currency. Link
24. The Imo State government has reinstated the 1,600 local councils staff that were suspended about five months ago. Governor Rochas Okorocha made the announcement at the Imo Trade and Investment Centre, Owerri, where he directed the immediate payment of their five months salary arrears. Link
25. The Speaker, House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, yesterday said that the National Assembly has powers of appropriation. Acting President Yemi Osinbajo was reported in the media to have said that the lawmakers lack such powers. Reacting to a matter of privilege by Lawal Abubakar (APC, Adamawa), Dogara said the claim, which was widely reported by the media has no basis and should not be taken seriously by any right thinking citizen. Link
26. The Kano State government has spent over N419,207,744 on Ramadan feeding in the 44 local governments. Chairman, Supervisory Committee of the Ramadan Feeding Mohamed Garba, who gave a breakdown of the disbursement of funds yesterday, said the government released N308, 353, 744 to the state, N110,854,000 and to the local government, bringing to total figure to N419, 297,744 million. Link
27. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) yesterday told the Federal High Court in Lagos that a senator representing Delta North, Peter Nwaoboshi, allegedly defrauded the state of N1.5billion and laundered part of it through a company known as Suiming Nigeria Ltd. Link

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