All the major economic news from Nigeria in 5 minutes – 4/7/2017

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

1. Oil companies seeking to renew their oil licenses or leases would be expected to pay a statutory application fee of $2 million, according to the Department of Petroleum Resources, DPR, in its latest templates for award and renewal of licenses of operators in the petroleum industry. Link
2. The Federal Government is yet to pay oil companies a total of $1.07bn in cash call required for the development of joint venture assets for the first four months of the year. Link
3. The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, on Monday said the Federal Government would rely heavily on technology to increase tax compliance under the recently launched Voluntary Asset and Income Declaration Scheme. The VAIDS was launched last week by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo to provide tax defaulters with a nine-month amnesty period within which to settle their tax liabilities without having to pay interest, penalties or face prosecution. Link
4. Nigeria and other ECOWAS countries will benefit from the 50 million-euro European Union (EU) fund set up to ensure sustainable fisheries development and marine security, an EU official says. Link
5. A top official of the Ministry of Budget and National Planning says the ministry is reviewing the National Integrated Infrastructure Master Plan (NIIMP 2014-2043) to ensure its successful implementation.  The official said the ministry had been receiving technical support from its global firm, Akintola Williams Deloitte Inc. in the review of the document. Link
6. The International Civil Aviation Organisation’s Council has elected the Nigerian representative, Capt. Musa Nuhu, as its second vice president. Link
7. Finance Minister Mrs Kemi Adeosun yesterday said the Federal Government planned to raise over $1billion from the executive order signed by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo. Link
8. The Comptroller General of Customs, Col. Hameed Ali (Rtd), has launched the Electronic Auction (E-Auction) portal as bidding for seized and overtime vehicles started by 12:00 noon on Monday. Speaking shortly before he launched the portal, Col. Ali said the launch marked the end of the manual process which had many complaints of fraud. Link
9. The Federal Government’s ban on the importation of dirty fuels into the country failed to come into effect on July 1, 2017 as announced in December last year. Link
10. The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Emmanuel Ibe Kachikwu, has said the nation’s three refineries in Warri, Kaduna and Port Harcourt could become obsolete in the next three to four years, hence the move by the government to repair and upgrade them. Link
11. Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, ACCA, in a recent study, revealed that Nigeria is on the course to reduce the size of its shadow economy to 46.11 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product, GDP, by 2025 from 48.37 per cent in 2016. Link
12. The Abuja Electricity Distribution Company(AEDC) is set to procure additional 30,000 prepaid meters to intensify mass metering of customers in its  franchise locations. The locations are Kogi, Niger, Nasarawa  and  the Federal Capital Territory. Link
13. Manufacturers spend at least N378 billion on private electricity generation to power their operations as public grid power supply remains unreliable. The president of Manufacturers Association of Nigeria (MAN),  Dr Frank Udemba Jacobs said manufacturers of consumable and non-consumable products spend N126billion yearly to generate power, lamenting that the figure amounted to N378billion when multiplied by three years. Link
14. The Federal Ministry of Power said an estimated $3.5 billion budget appropriations will be required as part of the funding plan needed to revive Nigeria’s power sector.  This is expected to ensure that a minimum baseline power generation of 4,000MW is guaranteed and distributed daily from 2017, to ensure stability of the grid. Link
15. The Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF), Mr. Anthony Mkpe Ayine, last Thursday submitted the final part of the 2015 audited report of the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) of the federal government to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Alhaji Mohammed Sani Omolori, bringing to a closure the almost one-year delay in the submission of the all-important report. Link
16. Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbeh, has disclosed that Nigeria has developed a blueprint to earn at least $10.0 billion annually from yam export in the next four (4) years. Link
17. The General Manager, Production, Nigeria LNG Limited, Mr. Tayo Oginni, has said making amendments to the NLNG Act will lead to the double taxation since gas suppliers to it already pay the Niger Delta Development Commission’s three per cent levy. Link
18. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) and International Oil Companies (IOCs) operating in the country including independent oil companies lifted  crude oil and condensate worth over $36.023 billion between March 2016 and March this year, according to NNPC April statistical report. This translates to N11.005 trillion at an exchange rate of N304.5 to a US dollar. The IOCs consist of Chevron Nigeria Limited, Exxonmobil, Total, Nigeria Agip Oil Company (NAOC)/Phillips, Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) and Addax including 24 independent companies among them Seplat Petroleum, Pan Ocean, Newcross, Eroton, Neconde, ND Western, Elcrest, ConOil, Amni, Platform Petroleum and Niger Delta Petroleum Development Company. Link
19. The Citibank (Citi) has granted a N500 million loan to Accion Microfinance Bank (Accion MFB) as part of efforts to promote the development of the microfinance sector in Nigeria. Lola Oyeka, the bank’s Country Public Affairs Officer for Nigeria and Ghana said the grant will fund Accion’s loan portfolio and support the development of approximately 5,000 micro and small enterprises in the country. Link
20. Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC) has blamed the non-diversion of natural gas from the deep-water Bonga oilfield to the domestic market on third parties, stressing that it has largely concluded its technical scope of the Bonga diversion project initiated to supply 120 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, an equivalent of 650 megawatts of electricity into the domestic market. Link
21. The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, NNPC, has secured $2billion discounts in the last one year from renegotiated Upstream contracts being executed by its various service providers. The Corporation said the feat was achieved in the quest to continually drive down the high cost of production in the industry. Link
22. Guinness Nigeria on Tuesday launched a share sale to raise 39.7 billion naira ($126 million) from existing shareholders to help lower its financing costs after reporting its first annual loss in 30 years last year. The beer maker, the local division of the world’s leading spirit maker Diageo, said funds raised will support Guinness in executing its strategy in the face of a recession in Africa’s biggest economy. Link
23. The Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) has disclosed that it is prepared to build two new 330KV substations in Kaduna and Zaria, and four additional 132 KV substations at Rigasa Kakau, Rigachun and Jaji, while it will reconstruct the Kaduna-Kano transmission line. Link
24. Orange and Vodafone Group are in “strong running” to buy 65 per cent of Etisalat Nigeria following Etisalat’s exit from the troubled operator, according to local sources. According to Brandish, “no fewer than five” companies have expressed interest in Etisalat Nigeria, although the two international telco giants have shown “concrete interest”. The potential hurdle, the report said, was the restructuring of the debt which caused the current uncertainty for the business. Link
25. Visa Inc., the global leader in payments, and Interswitch, Africa’s leading integrated payments and transaction solutions company, have announced that they will partner to accelerate mobile payments adoption across the region. The partnership will see Visa and Interswitch upgrade the digital banking applications of leading banks to include mVisa, as well as enable more merchants to accept mVisa payments. Link
26. The debt crisis rocking Etisalat Nigeria took a new turn Monday when the company’s chief executive officer (CEO), Mr. Matthew Willsher, and chief financial officer (CFO), Mr. Wole Obasunloye, resigned their appointments. Link
27. Boye Olusanya, former deputy managing director of Celtel Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria), will be the chief executive officer of Etisalat Nigeria during the transition period. Link
28. The Lagos State Commissioner for Finance, Mr. Akinyemi Ashade has revealed that the state government is committed to reducing poverty and unemployment in the state through its newly established IBILE microfinance bank.  According to him, the state government would make MSME loans available to the residents of the state who plan to go into small-scale businesses, but lack the necessary capital to do so. Link
29. Six Nigerian banks which included Zenith Plc, FirstBank Nigeria Limited, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Access Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc and Diamond Bank Plc were ranked among The Banker Magazine’s Top 25 Banks in Africa that was released last night, in the magazine’s 2017 1000 Global Banks’ ranking. Link
30. The Niger state government is to purchase 90 units of tractors and their implements this financial year, Governor Abubakar Bello has said.  Bello said the equipment would assist farmers in their land clearing business as a way of boosting food production. Link
31. The Presidency said, yesterday, that the Acting President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has signed into law two of the critical bills recently forwarded to the executive for assent by the National Assembly. According to the Presidency, the two bills are the Petroleum Training Institute (Amendment) Act, 2017 and the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (Establishment) Act, 2017. Link