All the major economic news from Nigeria in 5 minutes 23/8/2017

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

1. Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the Federal Government may consider increasing workers’ remuneration package, especially bonuses of certain government agencies, instead of increasing wages across board. Link
2. The Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) says it will recover an additional N56.6 billion from five states and federal Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) in the ongoing tax liabilities recovery. The Acting Chairman, Shettimma Abba-Gana, said the exercise covered between 2005 and 2015 across 30 states of the federation. Link
3. The Minister of Finance, Mrs Kemi Adeosun has emerged as the new Chairman of the Board of Governors of the ECOWAS Investment Bank. She was named as the new Chairman on Tuesday in Abuja at the 15th Annual General Meeting of the board of governors of the bank. Link
4. The Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, yesterday said the country’s average monthly import bill rose by 95 per cent to N588 billion in 12 years. Emefiele noted that the sharp increase in monthly import bill aggravated the impact of the decline in the nation’s foreign exchange earnings on the economy. He said: ” In terms of inflows, the bank’s  forex earnings have fell from as high as US$3.2 billion monthly sometime in 2013 to as low as $580 million per month at some point. Link
5. The Nigeria Labour Congress has criticized the moves by the Federal Government to release N8bn to the electricity distribution companies to procure prepaid meters. The NLC reaffirmed its call to the Federal Government to revisit the process of the privatisation of the power sector carried out by the Goodluck Jonathan administration. Link
6. Nigeria plans to raise 193.14 billion naira ($614 mln) worth of treasury bills at an auction on Aug. 30, the central bank said on Wednesday. The bank will offer 26.14 billion naira in three-month paper, 62 billion in six-month bill and 105 billion in one-year paper. The auction result will be announced on the same day. Link
7. Ministries, departments and agencies of the Federal Government have loans amounting to N178.09bn to settle, the Debt Management Office has said. Link
8. The Federal Government has approved the appointment of Mrs. Victoria Shin-Aba as the new Airport Manager of Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMIA) in Lagos.  Shin-Aba is to replace Nehemiah Auta who had been redeployed to the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) Headquarters as Deputy General Manager (Operations). Link
9. The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) says Nigeria currently ranks third globally in cyber crimes behind the UK and the U.S. Link
10. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Nigerian Stock Exchange say legal firms should consider the option of listing their shares on the Nigerian Stock Exchange. Link
11. The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) has assured that the phase one of the Abuja Rail Mass Transit project will be ready for public use in the next four months. The rail transit project, costing N299 billion ($823 million), consists of lot 1A and lot 3 covering a length of 45km with 12 designated passenger stations. It links the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja to the Central Business District. Link
12. Nigeria is losing about $2bn (N610bn at the official exchange rate of N305 to a dollar) annually as a result of the duplication of biometric verification being conducted by no fewer than 16 agencies of the Federal Government. According to the report of a research by Information and Communication Technology experts, which was revealed in Abuja on Tuesday, Nigeria can cut down this huge yearly loss by collapsing all biometric verification centres across the country into one entity. Link
13. The demand for foreign exchange (forex) has continued to rise despite the drop in forex earnings by the Federal Government. Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor Godwin Emefiele said yesterday that the average monthly import bill rose from N12.4 billion in 2005 to N588.1 billion in the first five months of this year. Link
14. The total turnover of forex transactions on the Investors and Exporters window stood at US$7.62 billion as at August 11, a report has shown. The increase, according to the monthly analysis by FSDH Merchant Bank Limited, has been consistent since April 2017. They projected that the turnover in August 2017 would also be higher than that of July 2017. Link
15. The Lagos State government has paid N515 million to another batch of 252 retirees. Governor Akinwunmi Ambode, represented by the Ministry of Establishments, Training & Pensions Commissioner, Dr. Akintola Benson said, in 24 months, August 2015 to last month, the government through the Lagos State Pension Commission ( LASPEC), had paid  N29.6 billion pension into the Retirement Savings Account (RSA) of 6,982 retirees. Link
16. The Nigerian Civil Aviation Authority (NCAA) has commenced the procurement process to build an online portal for the registration of all remote piloting aircraft system (drone) users in Nigeria. The project is a part of the capital budget expenditure of the NCAA approved by the National Assembly. Link
17. Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) plans to issue about 12.2 billion ordinary shares of 50 kobo each to existing shareholders and employees to raise N50 billion in new equity funds as the first generation bank looks beyond its centenary. Link
18. FBN Merchant Bank will team up with the global research and consultancy firm, Oxford Business Group (OBG) to produce the financial chapter of The Report: Nigeria 2017, highlighting the pivotal part Nigeria’s banks are playing in the country’s broader diversification efforts by boosting lending to the private sector. The report will chart the strong performance that the nation’s financial sector continues to deliver at home, despite the challenging economic climate, while also considering its role as a regional gateway. Link
19. Mainstreet Bank Insurance Brokers Company Limited, has unveiled a new brand identity to be known as AfriGlobal Insurance Brokers Limited. The old brand, formerly owned by Skye Bank, was unveiled as AfriGlobal Insurance, following the directive by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) that all banking institutions should divest from their non-banking subsidiaries. Link
20. Stanbic IBTC Bank, a member of Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc has received the ISO 9001:2015 Certification, a highly regarded Quality Management System certification globally. Link
21. The exportation of perishables is increasing, and has grown from as low as two per cent to about 12.5 per cent, representing over 10 per cent increase in the last one year, the Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc has said.  According to NAHCO’s Chief Commercial Officer, Seyi Adewale, most of the exports go to the United States at 38 per cent; 34 per cent to the entire Europe; 15 per cent to Africa; nine per cent to Asia and two per cent to the Middle East. Link
22. The sole dealer of Ford Motors in Nigeria, Coscharis Motors Limited, has called for more investment in genuine auto parts. The firm said in a statement that this was part of its commitment to safety and maintenance of its customers’ vehicles at various locations across the country. It added that it was also offering a 10 per cent discount on select genuine Ford parts, in a bid to continually deliver quality after-sale service. Link
23. Royal Dutch Shell has started gas production from the second phase of the Gbaran-Ubie project in Nigeria’s Niger Delta, the company said on Wednesday. The project is an expansion of the Gbaran-Ubie development, which opened in June 2010. Link
24. The energy invoice payment of the 11 Distribution Companies (DisCos) to the Generation Companies (GenCos) is below 50 per cent, with the Abuja DisCo leading with 45 per cent payment in the first five months of 2017. Serial data published by the Nigeria Bulk Electricity Trading Plc (NBET) with the latest on the market performance on Monday showed that Abuja Electricity Distribution Company (AEDC) was the highest paying DisCo for four months, except January 2017 when it came next to Eko Distribution Company (EKEDC). Link
25. 9 mobile (formerly known as Etisalat Nigeria) has issued a press statement explaining the network outage some of its users are currently experiencing. According to the firm, the network difficulties were due to a downtime in one of its data centres. Link
26. Globacom Limited has filed summons against the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission ( EFCC ) at the Lagos State High Court, Igbosere, seeking to stop investigation on a petition written against it by a foreign firm. Link
27. Promasidor Nigeria Limited, PNL, has appointed Mr. Anders Einarsson as Managing Director. He succeeds Mr. Olivier Thiry, who is now elevated to the Group as chief executive officer. Link
28. In another bold move for self-sufficiency in sugar production through the government’s backward integration policy, the Pan African Conglomerate, Dangote Group on Wednesday in Minna, Niger State signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Government for the establishment of a jumbo $450million state-of–art and fully integrated sugar complex. Link
29. The Kwara State Government on Tuesday said it had so far invested about N7bn in road projects in the state since the inauguration of the Kwara State Infrastructure Development Fund in September, 2016. Link
30. The Ekiti State Government on Tuesday announced the release of N190 million as vehicle and housing loans to 751 teaching and non-teaching staff in its secondary schools. Chief Abiodun Falayi, Chairman, Ekiti Teaching Service Commission, who announced this in Ado Ekiti, said that 468 workers received N100,000 to N300,000 as land/housing loans, depending on their salary grade levels. He also added that  another 283 personnel received between N80,000 to N750,000 as vehicle loans, depending on their salary grade levels. Link
31. Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, has pleaded with the Kano State government to pay pensioners their backlog of unpaid benefits, lamenting that the state government owed over N11.2 billion of gratuities, death benefits and pension arrears. Link
32. Yahaya Bello of Kogi has approved the appointment of Mrs Hajarat Lawal as the new Head of Service for the state. She is to replace Dr Moses Atakpa who has returned to the Kogi state University, Ayangba. Link

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